Leaving ELCA

So, I am leaving ELCA, including my congregation.

In my opinion, there is nothing more deceiving than a congregation that is proudly saying they are conservative (in a Lutheran sense), yet never object to anything.

Afraid to rock the boat.

Thanks,
Ed

Hope your path leads you to warmer waters!

Any new homes in mind?

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Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

God bless you, Ed.

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So glad to hear that not only you, but the congregation you belong to, has taken a stand.

Hang in there Ed.

(I personally despise searching for a new church home, but sometimes it's necessary.)

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Confessional Lutheran Christianity: Christ-centered, Cross-focused.
Biblical, historic, traditional, creedal, confessional, liturgical, monergistic, sacramental, evangelical, catholic, orthodox Christianity.

Originally Posted by Lupinus

Hope your path leads you to warmer waters!

Any new homes in mind?

Not yet.

I should check out filo's hangout ... AALC ... it's in West Hamptons. 1/2 hour away.
Or, WELS in Jackson Heights.

Something that is called ILS or ILC?

I'll wait with LCMS ... too much politics. Just too much.
And politics is what destroys the church, in my opinion.
I pray for those guys.

Thanks,
Ed

Originally Posted by seajoy

God bless you, Ed.

Thanks.
I plan visiting your hangout, the WELS in Jackson Heights.
See what's it all about.

Originally Posted by LutheranChick

So glad to hear that not only you, but the congregation you belong to, has taken a stand.

Actually it was only me Councilmember, Chairman of Church Council and the retired Pastor Emeritus ).
Present Vicar apparently is so wishy washy who needs to please all, especially his bosses ... and he is reporting weekly to ELCA ... and he is waiting to be ordained by them ... and people in congregation apparently prefer their habit of being here for decades over objecting for what they know is right.

Typical.

If plainly unscriptural behavior is openly approved of by a leadership ... and people that claim to be followers of Scriptures decide to stay ... it appears to me they simply like their social circle they call "church" and afraid of splits more than doing what is right.

I came from an atheist background.
At that time, to me church was something one goes at Christmas to show respect to historical Jesus.
That's all.
I had other social clubs. Church was never one of them.

Thanks,
Ed

Originally Posted by CantateDomino

Hang in there Ed.

(I personally despise searching for a new church home, but sometimes it's necessary.)

I feel very well.
It's like a burden is off my shoulders.

Thanks,
Ed

Ed,

Godspeed as you search for a new church home. It's absolutely clear that you'll be much happier outside the ELCA than you would have been had you remained in it. Don't be so quick to judge those who've made a different choice from the one you have, though. Surely not everybody (i.e., neither within the ELCA as a whole, nor--I'd venture to guess--even just within your own congregation) who chooses to remain in the ELCA is motivated by conflict avoidance and a desire to turn the church into a social club. I know you strongly disagree with the ELCA's decision, but surely you know that many also strongly agreed with it, and their agreement with the new policy is just as motivated by a desire to remain faithful to the norm of scripture as your disagreement with it is. I'm not chiming in here to rehash the arguments about which side is right, only to point out that the motivations you've ascribed to your former co-congregants is awfully uncharitable and probably demonstrably false.

I could, of course, be wrong, but I'd be rather surprised if the motivations you've listed are the only ones--or, for that matter, even the primary ones--at work in your former congregation. They certainly are not the motivations at work in any of the ELCA members and congregations I've encountered who agree with the new policies. You've made your choice to leave, and I do sincerely wish you well wherever you end up, but for better or for worse the ELCA leadership has chosen to try to preserve our church's now tenuous unity by affirming that both sides on this issue are genuinely motivated by a desire to remain faithful to the gospel and to the norm of scripture. That will surely prove to be a hard (and perhaps impossible) task, as even many of those who disagree but have have chosen to stay continue to ascribe motives falsely and uncharitably to the proponents of our new policies. Again, I'm not intending to reopen the debate about who's actually right, only pointing out that, despite what you've come to believe and assume, yours was not the only side trying earnestly to be faithful to what has been given to us in the scriptures.