A newspaper article to read...
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A newspaper article to read... PDF Print E-mail

There is an article in The Bismark Tribune, North Dakota that is worth bringing to your attention. It is balanced and informative, with quotes from Bishop Hanson.

The article is called "ELCA leaders: No need for division"

It begins as follows:

"In the wake of the ELCA assembly vote to allow gay and lesbian people to serve in the clergy or other leadership positions, the denomination's Presiding Bishop, the Rev Mark Hanson, has told his bishops and laity to expect some congregations to leave.

"Whether ELCA congregations will defect in large numbers to more conservative Lutheran denominations remains to be seen.

"However, national and local ELCA leaders say that this decision does not have to divide the church and are working hard to clarify its exact provisions to their congregations.

"ELCA leaders emphasize that this churchwide assembly's decision in Minneapolis also states that no congregation will be compelled to be served by a gay or lesbian pastor if they don't wish to be.

"The Rev Steve Schou, pastor at Peace Lutheran Church in Dickinson, said the churchwide decision was a grassroots movement that included families of gay and lesbian children within the church, not a "top-down" decision by national church leaders…"