Gay in the Ministry: Congregations grapple with new guidelines

The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted Aug. 21, 2009, to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships.

This national decision has become a divisive - and at times personal and political - issue in some local congregations as they deal with its implementation.

"I've been with the church a long time," Western Iowa Synod Bishop Michael Last, of Storm Lake, said. "And, for me in a leadership role in the life of the church, whether as a parish pastor or as a bishop in the church, this is certainly one (issue) that has created the most energy. I think the last issue that created quite a stir across much of Lutheranism was the ordination of women as ordained ministers. There were similar discussions and similar kinds of energy among those who even threatened to actually leave the denomination at the time."

Last oversees the ELCA synod which covers the western one-third of Iowa.

The topic at hand, meanwhile, is not new.

Other churches have already discussed the issue. A number of major Christian denominations have voted in recent years to allow non-celibate gays to serve as clergy if they are in committed relationships. In the Presbyterian Church, Riverside Presbyterian in Linn Grove voted unanimously to leave the Presbyterian Church in 2006 in part due to the issue.

Read more of this story in the August 24 Pilot Tribune.

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