ELCA to split?

[Korah]

At the Sunday morning following the 30th Anniversary of our ELCA church congregation, the founding pastor took the opportunity to bewail much that has occurred in our society, churches in general, and ELCA specifically. I asked him afterward if he foresaw any hopeful signs. He said that there is a movement afoot to split the ELCA, that they are holding meetings this week. He thinks of himself as a centrist.
Anyone here hear of anything moving towards a split?

 

[AngCath]

Was the pastor talking about NALC/CORE?

 

[Korah]

Was the pastor talking about NALC/CORE?

I got no specifics, other than he understood there was some important meeting happening.
Other than that, he said that Lutheranism (I don't know if he meant generally or just in the US) has periods of going of to right or left, but coming back to the center.
Tell me about NALC/CORE. I know nothing about it.
Edit to add:
I did a Google Search, and that must be it. They're meeting this month. In governance they cover everything, from separate congregations and house churches to continued membership in ELCA and ELCIC.
They're a little more conservative than I prefer, as they emphasize the ecumenical creeds (which includes the Athanasian, which even our founding pastor did not like) and confessional Lutheranism (I prefer to stick with the Augsburg Confession and the Apology). They proclaim their catholic nature, but they're using Word Alone resources and are close to the LCMC, and how will they get by with only one bishop? Even if only for the congregations separate from ELCA? Covering both the US and Canada.
Further research led me to this link:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...-core.html+nalc/core&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
And which makes it look like a CORE endeavour.
I quote from there (dated Aug 10):

North American Lutheran Church
The Rev. Paull Spring of State College, Pa., current chair of Lutheran CORE, has been nominated to serve as the first bishop of the North American Lutheran Church. Spring is the former bishop of the ELCA’s Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod.

Here's another link showing that CORE is running the convocation:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ncore.org/+nalc/core&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
And quoting:

Lutheran CORE is inviting Christians around the world to join in 40 days of prayer as Lutherans in North America gather to form the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) and to shape the ongoing ministry of Lutheran CORE as a community of confessing Lutherans regardless of their church body affiliation. The 40 days of prayer begin on July 19 and continue through Aug. 27, the day the NALC will be constituted. Devotions and prayers have been prepared for each of the 40 days. The devotions and prayers will be posted weekly here.

 

[AngCath]

Yeah, that's what I thought he'd be talking about. You probably know more about NALC/CORE than I do now that you've done that reading. I don't really know all that much since no one around here (at least in my congregation) really talks about any of that.

 

[Willy]

The ELCA is not about to split. Some congregations have chosen to leave the ELCA after the church wide assembly decision. But statistically, it is a small number.

 

[Korah]

The ELCA is not about to split. Some congregations have chosen to leave the ELCA after the church wide assembly decision. But statistically, it is a small number.

Apparently 3-4% so far (not counting congregations who left before the vote). But it's a difficult process, so others may be in process, and the formation of NALC may prompt more. Others may remain in ELCA but affiliate with NALC also.

 

[RadMan]

Don't know what the percentage is but it looks like some pretty substantial numbers for CORE.

"More than 1,000 Lutherans from
throughout North America will gather
Aug. 26-27 in suburban Columbus,
Ohio, to form a new church body for
confessional Lutherans in North
America.
The annual Convocation of Lutheran
CORE will adopt a constitution and
proposals that will give birth to the
North American Lutheran Church."
http://www.lutherancore.org/pdf/Connection-Aug-10.pdf




.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

The ELCA is not about to split. Some congregations have chosen to leave the ELCA after the church wide assembly decision. But statistically, it is a small number.

Trust me, churches don't have to leave the synod for it to be split.

 

[IowaLutheran]

The ELCAs' overall membership numbers in 5 years will tell the story of whether or not there was a split, not the number congregations who leave. I suspect that the number of actual congregations that leave for the NALC, LCMS, LCMC, or somewhere else will be less than a 1,000, but that will not account for the individuals who simply walk out the door and don't come back, nor the congregations where there was a vote to leave that failed to garner the 2/3 majority, causing the dissenters to leave form a new, non-ELCA, congregation.

 

[lux et lex]

If there was something more liberal, or ELCA congregations actually went by what the convention says, maybe I'd go back to church regularly.

 

[AngelusSax]

If there was something more liberal, or ELCA congregations actually went by what the convention says, maybe I'd go back to church regularly.

Well, the convention says (on this issue, anyway), that individual churches are allowed to call, but they don't have to call, openly gay people in lifelong, committed relationships, to be pastors. So if an ELCA congregation refuses to call someone who is gay, they are still doing what the convention says, as there is no force.

(Just a point of clarification... I don't know if it was needed or not, but your post made me wonder if it was needed, so I put it in here anyway).

 

[lux et lex]

Oh, I was aware of that. It's not only the gay marriage issue, but others as well that I'm not going to get into right now.

 

[AngelusSax]

Okay. Just checking!