Four congregations and a pastor in western South Dakota have been censured by their bishop for expressing their belief that changes in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s teaching and policy on homosexual behavior violate the teaching of the Bible by joining Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC).
The Rev. David Zellmer, bishop of the South Dakota Synod, “censured” the Rev. Frezil Westerlund of Philip, S.D., and the four congregations she serves for joining LCMC, an association of traditional Lutheran congregations.
Pastor Westerlund was notified of the censure Wednesday, May 5, by an assistant to the bishop. The congregations were notified by mail.
The congregations — First Lutheran Church, Philip; Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Long Valley; Trinity Lutheran Church, Midland; and Deep Creek Lutheran Church, rural Midland — each voted to join LCMC and to redirect their mission giving at congregational meetings in October. Pastor Westerlund has not joined LCMC. The congregations work together as Western New Hope Lutheran Parish.
“This act of censure belies the promise that orthodox Christians will have a place within the ELCA,” Pastor Westerlund said. “We did not withdraw from the ELCA because we believed that the course of the church could still be righted. Now who knows what will happen.”
“This is not an issue about human partnerships. Our issue is Biblical authority. We can’t just take scissors and cut out the parts of the Bible we don’t like. That lacks integrity,” she said.
Pastor Westerlund comes from a long line of Lutheran pastors willing to take a stand for their faith. “My family has been pastors for 500 years. My great, great, great, etc. grandfather, the Rev. Johann Von Heyl, signed the Augsburg Confession. At my ordination, I promised to teach and preach in accordance with Scripture and that confession. We have a duty to stand for what is right and faithful.” she said.
The Augsburg Confession is the primary Lutheran confession of faith and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran Reformation. It was presented at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530 as the first Lutherans took their stand and confessed their faith before religious and civil authorities.
At age 63, Pastor Westerlund is a petite, white-haired woman who stands all of 5-foot-2 in high heels. She has been undergoing treatment for colon cancer and is on medical leave. She recently returned to Philip from Rochester, Minn., where she had surgery at the Mayo Clinic.
“It was quite a surprise to come back from Mayo to find out that I am an outlaw,” she said.
“I question why we as a small rural congregation, a member of Western New Hope Parish, and also our Pastor Frezil Westerlund — who is recovering from major cancer surgery at this time — have been singled out by being censured because of the fact that we have joined LCMC,” said Karen Pinney, a member of First Lutheran Church in Philip, and also Associate Coordinator of the Bear Butte Conference Women of the ELCA.
“We studied and sent a response from our parish in regard to the Social Statement on Human Sexuality prior to the vote by Churchwide August 2009 in Minneapolis. We have been prayerfully discussing and considering what is best for our parish and congregation. We have taken time to consider the possibilities of either staying or leaving the ELCA,” she said.
“I truly believe the decision of ELCA to put practicing homosexuals in the pulpit totally goes against the teaching of God’s Holy Word,” Pinney said. “If Bishop Zellmer wants to draw a line in the sand, I join with Martin Luther by saying ‘Here I stand!’ I am proud to say I stand firmly with Scripture.”
As a means of protest and a more faithful means of stewardship, the congregations have chosen to directly support ministries rather then to send undesignated support to the South Dakota Synod.
“The people of Western New Hope Lutheran Parish are people of faith and kindness. Like other South Dakotans, we are a self-reliant, caring community When someone is hungry we feed them. We continue to support our statewide Lutheran ministries,” Pastor Westerlund said.
“Instead of sending our funds to the South Dakota Synod for them to distribute the funds to our various church agencies, we send directly to these agencies. With benevolence money sent to the South Dakota Synod main office, 43 percent is sent to the national ELCA.” explained John Kangas, a member of First Lutheran in Philip. “Our local congregation not only gives support to our Lutheran statewide mission groups, we also started funding local food banks and help for people’s prescription drugs.”
Shirley Kangas noted that this designated giving by individuals and congregations is resulting in more funds for actual ministry rather than for staff salaries at church headquarters. “At the Bear Butte Conference meeting in Rapid City on April 10, Bishop Zellmer spoke of the deficit of monies coming into the synod because congregations were sending their money to specific mission projects. Both the national ELCA and the South Dakota Synod are short in their budgets and had to lay off staff. The monies going directly from the congregations to the mission projects have increased more than they would have received from the synod,” she said.
ELCA national leaders have been encouraging synod leaders to take a hard line against congregations that seek to add an additional church affiliation.
In a January memo to synod bishops and vice presidents, ELCA Secretary David Swartling announced that the ELCA will not allow congregations to be members of more than one church body. He said that bishops could choose to discipline a congregation for affiliating with an additional church body.
Swartling’s announcement marked a change in the ELCA’s posture toward congregations that have more than one church body membership.
Some ELCA congregations have had dual affiliations with LCMC since 2001 with no conflict or threats of discipline from their synods. It is believed that Zellmer’s actions mark the first time a congregation has been disciplined for having dual affiliations, but a California synod announced April 1 that it is considering the possibility.
Zellmer announced April 10 at the Bear Butte Conference Assembly in Rapid City that he would seek to discipline any congregation that joins LCMC. He said that he made the decision based on conversations with other bishops at recent meetings of the ELCA Conference of Bishops.
Nearly 200 ELCA congregations — 11 in South Dakota — have joined LCMC since the ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted in August 2009 to change ELCA teaching and policy to permit pastors to be in same-sex sexual relationships. The significant number of congregations joining LCMC may explain the ELCA’s new tough stance against dual church body affiliations.
Most of those congregations voted to leave the ELCA at the same time. The four congregations that were censured by the bishop are the ones that didn’t vote to leave the ELCA. Some wonder if the bishop is trying to force the congregations to make a decision about whether or not to stay in the ELCA.
The actions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly have caused conflict in many congregations in South Dakota. Many individuals and congregations are discerning whether they can in good conscience continue to be a part of the ELCA. Many are waiting to see what actions the South Dakota Synod Assembly will take in opposition to the ELCA’s reversal of its teaching and policies on same-sex relationships. Many are also waiting for the North American Lutheran Church to be constituted in August.
Lutheran CORE, an association of traditional Lutherans is aiding in the formation a new church body, the North American Lutheran Church, which is to be constituted Aug. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio. Lutheran CORE will continue as “a community of confessing Lutherans, a way for traditional Lutherans to work together regardless of their church body affiliation.
The South Dakota Synod Assembly, the annual meeting of the synod, will consider resolutions expressing the synod’s opposition to the ELCA’s new teaching and policy when it meets June 11-12 in Rapid City. The assembly will also consider a resolution asking that the synod express its willingness to continue in shared ministry work with congregations in South Dakota that leave the ELCA because they believe the ELCA’s new policies violate the teaching of the Bible.
Susan Marone, assistant to the bishop, told Pastor Westerlund that Bishop Zellmer will be asking the South Dakota Synod Council about pursuing further disciplinary actions against her and the congregations. Censure is the least severe of the disciplinary actions that can be taken by the synod. The most severe would be expelling the congregations and pastor from the ELCA.
Bishop Zellmer is traveling in Africa May 2-14.
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So these churches violated the ELCA constitution and Lutheran CORE is painting them as the victims? Funny how that works. They shouldn't get to play the victim card when they're in the wrong.
ReplyDeletePastor Westerlund and these churches are within their rights to dislike the recent changes and believe the ELCA has abandoned Scripture. Just like I'm within my rights to believe that they and Lutheran CORE have abandoned Jesus' teachings on love and inclusivity. But that has nothing to do with this discipline action.
They violated the rules and are now facing the consequences of their actions. They can blame the ELCA if they want but that doesn't change the fact that they're guilty.
In spite of memos and comments to the contrary, there is nothing in the ELCA Constitution that prohibits a congregation from having dual church affiliations.
ReplyDeleteThe bishop notes that the ELCA Secretary is the only one who is allowed to interpret the ELCA constitution. However, the Secretary's case against dual affiliation is very weak.
I find it hard to believe that the ELCA's constitution doesn’t mention that churches are not allowed to join a competing denomination while still remaining in the ELCA. But even if the constitution doesn't say that, should they really be surprised at the backlash? Common sense should've told them that there would be consequences for dual membership and withholding funds from the synod. Did they think the ELCA and SD Synod would ignore that?
ReplyDeleteOr did they want this to happen? I noticed that pretty much every CORE and WordAlone website has carried this story. It makes me wonder if this is another attempt to say "Look at how the ELCA treats us poor conservatives. They'll be coming for you next!"
I still support Bishop Zellmer in this discipline action.
lutheranlibinsd, I find it interesting that the ELCA allowed dually-rostered congregations for several years without a problem and only now has "cracked down" on those churches that choose to do so. What about the many churches that openly violated the ELCA constitution by calling someone not approved to serve as a pastor because they were in homosexual sexual relationships? That was happening all over the place, yet most of those churches were just ignored. Perhaps this whole situation highlights one of the major problems in the ELCA: lack of uniform application of discipline.
ReplyDelete"Abandoned Jesus' teachings on love and inclusivity [sic]."? No one in their right mind in Lutheran CORE suggests in any way that we shouldn't love and care for people, regardless of their situation. However, "loving" someone does not mean that you unquestioningly accept every detail about someone's life. The understanding is that homosexual activity is against the will of God, and loving someone means supporting and encouraging them in lives that avoid such things. Same thing can apply to anything. By the way, there's more to Christian faith than "love and inclusivity [sic]." There's also sin, judgment, redemption, repentance, faith, justification, sanctification. My critique of "mainline" denominations is that these issues are pushed to the periphery if not outright ignored. When you get rid of these aspects of Christian faith, you don't have much of anything to have faith in, and faith is reduced to "accepting" everything. Not the kind of faith I was brought up in.