Parishioners meet with Bishop concerning the future of the church

Times Contributor

 

Over 125 people, representing congregations from Hanna, Claresholm, Tilley, Medicine Hat, Hussar, Dalum, Strathmore and Standard, came to Nazareth Lutheran Church in Standard, to hear Bishop Ron Mayan speak about the future of the churches in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) last Thursday, Oct. 27.

Mayan, who is bishop of the Synod of Alberta and the Territories (which covers Alberta, the Yukon and NWT) came to address the decisions arising from last summer’s National Convention in Saskatoon and their consequences.

The convention passed four separate and distinct motions all involving sexuality and the church. The first motion concerned the Social Statement on Human Sexuality, the most contentious aspect of it being acceptance of homo-erotic behavior as permissible in certain circumstances. The second motion was a Unity Statement which, anticipating a negative reaction from some quarters to the Social Statement, asserted that moral issues should not be church-dividing.

The last two motions built on the previous ones, the first allowing for pastors of the ELCIC to perform same-gender marriages if they so chose to, and to allow for the ordination of partnered gay or lesbian pastors (previously the ELCIC allowed individuals who were homosexual in their self-understanding could be ordained and serve as pastors so long as they were chaste). 

All of the motions passed by a margin of between 60 and 64 per cent.

Mayan said the decisions at convention were due to “political will and not made based on theology or pastoral care. I am a theologian and the motions were not scripturally or theologically sound.” 

Even so he said it  was inevitable that this was going to happen. If not in 2011, then in 2013 or 2015 – the political will to make this happen was that great.

These issues are not new to the ELCIC. Similar motions were defeated at the 2005 and 2007 national conventions, and while they arose at the 2009 meeting, they were dropped as the task force developing the Social Statement was in the middle of its work. 

There are around 30 ELCIC congregations in Alberta alone who are in the process of leaving the denomination or exploring other avenues for their members. 

“This is ten times more than any other Synod in Canada,” said Mayan.

Mayan is the only Bishop in the ELCIC (of a total of six) not supportive of these decisions. 

“It is a hard ground to stand on but I will not relent.” 

Even though he is against these decisions, Mayan maintains he is committed to remaining in the ELCIC, to uphold the traditional teaching on these matters.

He urged congregations who opposed these decisions to remain in the ELCIC as well. One option he suggested was that congregations could pass a declaration stating that same-gender marriages would not take place in their church, nor would they be open to calling a partnered gay or lesbian pastor.

Mayan pointed out that neither the Social Statement nor the attending motions force a pastor or congregation to do anything with which they don’t agree.

“The ELCIC is a voluntary confederation of congregations, and what the National Church did was give local congregations the option to decide for themselves if they wanted to act on these decisions or not,” he said.

Judging from the questions Mayan fielded, this is not an easy issue for congregations, parishioners or pastors and is causing considerable stress and strain as they grapple with these questions.

Mayan noted that the concerns raised were by no means unique. He pointed out that given the structure of the ELCIC he does not have the authority to tell congregations what to do. The best he could offer is advice, information and prayer.