Lutheran dissenters get organized

Christian Century, Dec 15, 1999

Lutheran critics of a proposal for full communion with the Episcopal Church have created their own organization. Meanwhile, two Lutheran congregations also have registered their dissent from the ecumenical decision. The 408 people who met November 15-16 in St. Paul, Minnesota, elected Roger C. Eigenfeld of Mahtomedi, Minnesota, to lead their group.

The meeting, titled "Word Alone National Gathering I," was the culmination of a series of 45 regional gatherings held throughout the fall across the country. In August the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to approve the proposal, "Called to Common Mission," with the Episcopal Church. It passed by a vote of 716317, 27 votes more than the required two-thirds. The proposal would lead to a range of cooperative ministries between the two denominations.

Opponents often cite the ELCA's adoption of the historic episcopate--a succession of bishops considered a sign of unity back to the earliest days of the Christian church--as the reason for their opposition. They argue that the historic episcopate, brought to the relationship by the Episcopal Church, creates a new church hierarchy. Currently bishops are authorized to ordain but may delegate the task to an ordained pastor. Under the proposal, bishops must preside at all future ELCA ordinations.

According to Eigenfeld, 59, there are currently no plans to create another denomination. "I wouldn't even want to talk about another denomination, because I think that's incredibly premature and totally unnecessary at this point," said Eigenfeld, pastor of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi. He hopes there can be a meeting of ELCA leaders and opponents of the proposal to seek a "mutual remedy."

In a separate but related matter, one Lutheran congregation voted to leave the ELCA and another refused to change its liturgies or governing documents to include the historic episcopate. St. Paul Lutheran Church in Napoleon, Ohio, has voted to leave the denomination, but a second vote to confirm or withdraw the action is expected in early 2000. The church cited the proposal as one of its reasons for departing.

St. Luke Lutheran Church in Bay Shore, New York, adopted a resolution "rejecting the document `Called to Common Mission' in its entirety" and declared itself "a non-CCM congregation." --RNS