New Lutheran body to form after gay pastor vote

(New Brighton, Minn.) The split over gay clergy within the country’s largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution …

Conservative Lutherans organize after vote on gays

(Fishers, Ind.) Conservative members of the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination voted Saturday to spend the next 12 months deciding whether to split from the church after it liberalized its stance on gay clergy.

About 1,200 people meeting in suburban Indianapolis approved a constitution for the conservative umbrella group Lutheran CORE and …

Lutheran gay clergy proposal passes 1st hurdle

(Minneapolis) Leaders of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination prayed for unity Monday as they waded into a weeklong debate over homosexuality and the clergy, while a rule change that would allow people in same-sex relationships to serve cleared its first hurdle.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is meeting this …

Lutherans begin gay clergy discussion in Minn.

(Minneapolis) Leaders of the country’s largest Lutheran denomination began discussing Monday whether or not to allow people in same-sex relationships to serve as clergy.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which is meeting this week in Minneapolis, plans to decide whether to approve a proposal that would allow individual congregations to …

Lutherans consider gay clergy

The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will consider allowing individual congregations to choose whether to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, an attempt to avoid the sort of infighting that has threatened to tear other churches apart.

A task force of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recommended that course at the end of February in a long-awaited report on ministry standards. The panel, however, said the church needs to clarify a number of questions before overhauling its gay clergy policy.

The report, issued at the same time as a broader church social statement on human sexuality, seeks balance on an issue dividing many Protestant churches. Both documents will be considered in August in Minneapolis at the biannual church convention.

“At this point, there is no consensus in the church,” said the Rev. Peter Strommen of Prior Lake, Minn., chairman of the 15-member task force on sexuality. “The question ends up being, ‘How are we going to live together in that absence of consensus?’ ”

See Lutherans consider gay clergy

Concord Monitor