This January marks the end of my term as President of Lutheran CORE. I have been on the board of CORE since 2019. In that time, my own congregation held a successful vote to leave the ELCA. As a result, the fate of the ELCA will not have a direct impact on me and my congregation. Nevertheless, with the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly approaching, I wanted to share some final thoughts about the denomination of which I was a part for 35 years.
When I think about the direction of the ELCA in 2024, the words “no way to slow down” come to mind. In case you don’t recognize those words, they come from the song Locomotive Breath by the rock band Jethro Tull. It tells the story of a runaway train. The refrain says, “Old Charlie stole the handle / and the train it won’t stop going / no way to slow down.”
I have begun to wonder whether the bishops of the ELCA are less like the engineer of the train, and more like the unwilling passenger. In my interactions with bishops and various other church leaders over the years, they always seemed to have a standard response to any question about the future of the ELCA. Whenever I would share a concern, the answer I would get was, “Don’t worry. That will never happen.”
Are you concerned that “bound conscience” will be ignored, or worse yet, rescinded? “Don’t worry. That will never happen.” Are you afraid that ELCA pastors will be required to preach and teach in accord with ELCA social statements? “Don’t worry. That will never happen.” Are you afraid that the ELCA will close congregations and seize their assets to fund the church’s bureaucracy? “Don’t worry. That will never happen.”
That is what we are told. However, I also remember being told that the group “Naked and Unashamed” was a fringe group that would have no influence on the ELCA. I remember being assured that seminary faculties would not be purged of those holding to orthodox teaching on marriage, the Trinity, Christology, or salvation. I remember being assured that ELCA Advocacy would defend the right of religious organizations to adhere to traditional teachings on marriage. All of those assurances proved to be empty.
In 2019, one of the primary demands of “Naked and Unashamed” was met. The ELCA removed the requirement that unmarried rostered leaders remain chaste and abstinent from Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline. At least three seminaries have seen purges of faculty or staff take place. ELCA Advocacy declined to publicly support the freedom of religious institutions to follow their bound consciences in regard to marriage.
Why do bishops resort to such empty promises? You could argue that they are simply dishonest. That may be true in some cases. However, I think that explanation is too easy. I think it might be the case that the bishops are afraid. They are afraid to tell people the truth. First of all, they are afraid of what will happen to the ELCA if too many people decide to leave at the same time. Secondly, they are afraid of what will happen to them if they tell the truth. There is an unnamed group of people who will make life very difficult for any bishop that steps out of line.
Who are these unnamed people? I can’t say for sure. All I can say is that there is a sense in which the ELCA is a runaway locomotive that is outside of the control of its bishops. Someone else is at the throttle and the brake handle has been stolen. Even if a wreck is imminent, some think it is better to keep the passengers calm. That’s why groups like Lutheran CORE have to sound the alarm.
Dear David,
Your words touch me with penetrating wisdom and and a soulful cry. Thank you for your years of hard work and careful analysis for all who are willing to listen and LEARN. That last word is often the most difficult to embrace. Blessings.
Mike Lubas
Dear David,
Being a child of the 60’s I can relate. Jethro Tull’s Aqualung (1971) was a classic. The other telling lyric of the song is “…he sees his children jumping off…” (the train). Although Anderson wrote these lyrics in response to his concern about what he thought was overpopulation of the earth, they seem so very prophetic for today’s situation in the Christian Church in general. People are not as stupid as the “Church” elite think they are. I am afraid that the abandonment of the run away hierarchical institutions (that are hell bent on disobedience of God’s Word,) shall be swift and disastrous…for them.
Normal is not coming back, but Jesus is.
Bob Berry
Cody Wyoming
That is certainly a charitable take, and I would bet that it is part of the story. There are always some people even in leadership roles who let events happen to them rather than trying to impact events.
However, thinking back to 2009 when the ELCA first changed its teaching on human sexuality, I would say it is more “won’t try to stop it” than “can’t stop it.” I was serving on the Board of Lutheran CORE then, and i remember being quite surprised that the handful (perhaps large handful) of synod bishops who were personally orthodox on those matters did not do or say anything. There were enough that they could have done something together – even if just a public pledge or statement of some sort.
Nothing of that sort happened, at least as I recall. About the most you could say is that a few of the synod bishops at that time didn’t really try to convince congregations to stay in the ELCA if they were voting to leave. That was something, I suppose, but hardly “profiles in courage” or even leadership. Certainly not “judging doctrine and rejecting false doctrine.”
Ultimately when you are in a position of leadership, choosing not to do anything is still a choice. Choosing not to try to impact events, when you have a role or platform in which you might impact events, is willingly allowing those events to happen. Staying silent while false teaching abounds in the church in which you have a servant leadership role is, in fact, saying that you don’t believe that teaching to be outside the bounds of sound doctrine.
Ryan,
Looking back it was clear the ELCA’s train threw itself off the tracks and into the abyss back in 2009. We all remember the sequence; laity asked, surveys taken and ignored, a couple of national Assemblies to get a good enough result to start the more rapid flight into oblivion.
The sad bit is they have thousands of properties they can sell to keep throwing coal into their boiler, excited by their visions of new tracks and directions, but at this point it doesn’t matter how fast the wheels spin or clouds of steam they release, the plunge into emptiness can’t be stopped. I invision a rainbow stoled drag queen, head hanging out an engine window, smiling as wind blows through their hair, unable to see what’s coming at the bottom of the ravine.