Editor’s Note: Dan Hetherington is the pastor at St. John Lutheran Church, Columbia, MD.
We have heard many stories from around the country about the problems some have faced in leaving the ELCA. For us, at St. John, it was rather straight forward; however, a lot of the reasons why go back to leadership of previous years.
For many years, prior to my arrival at St. John, the staff and church council had refused to update their constitution and bylaws and so were operating under a different set of guidelines than most. This was also before any regimented changes to bylaws from ELCA upper leadership.
The congregation of St. John has always been a ‘mixed bag’ when it comes to members’ political leanings. For some, political affiliation has always been a leading influence on shaping values and beliefs, yet for others, Scripture has been the overriding authoritative source and norm for life.
The straw which broke the camel’s back and led to the senior leadership beginning the conversation, and taking what they found to the Council, was what can only be described as movements towards universalism and, more concerning, paganism.
Once this was shared with the council there was deliberation on how this would be received among the congregation and what any fall-out might be. Before anything was decided upon, we took our time to make sure that our membership roster was up-to-date and that only those who still have a ‘true’ interest in the mission of St. John would have a voice when it came to deciding our future.
Having things lined up, letters were sent to the congregation from the council president and from myself as the senior pastor, stating the requirements for discussing and ultimately voting, as well as sharing the primary concerns.
The bishop and his staff were very good. He heard our grievance, spent time in speaking with members of the congregation, which brought us to the point whereby we could vote and then enter a process of discerning to which network we moved (either LCMC or NALC).
I have no doubt that the right decision was to leave the ELCA, and although this resulted in some people leaving the church, the major test for us was in our dedication to be who we said we were – and after voting to join with LCMC, keep to the statement of faith to which we agreed to uphold.
Being part of the ELCA had allowed for the church to be many things, and for a lot of our members, that was not Lutheran. There were difficult discussions which resulted in people walking away over our stated beliefs and some of the practices which now held a stronger place in our worship.
All-in-all although the church membership is greatly depleted, and the active participation in worship even smaller, I believe that we are a mightier body than before. The strength that I have seen from those who remain has given me great cause for celebration. We don’t all agree on everything – there is still a divide in political alliance, and with that certain views on what some refer to as political issues and others moral issues. But we stand together, and we hold the Scriptures as being the sole authority on which all things we decide to do must stand.
