Church, Pastor or Group-Made Resources
To help you and your church in making your decision regarding the ELCA, I have taken materials, which other ELCA churches have produced, to help you and your church in making your decision. You will find some of these resources posted elsewhere on Exposing the ELCA. But because of requests for these materials, I have made this page. If you know of other church/pastor made resources we should include here please contact me.
What are the main differences between the Missouri Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)?
. . .The LCMS believes that the Bible is without error in all that it says. The ELCA avoids making such statements, holding that Scripture is not necessarily always accurate on such matters as history and science. . .
Sense and Sensuality by Rev. Gary Blobaum
Pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Chruch in IL. Pastor Blobaum wrote over 10 articles filled with information about the ELCA, homosexuality and more. Upon going to the site, choose articles from the scroll down list.
How does LCMC compare with the ELCA?
by Pastor Tony Stoutenburg. Click below. This is a pdf file.
| comparison_elca_and_lcmc.pdf |
Scriptural Support For Biblical, Historical Understanding
(from Hosanna! Lutheran in St. Charles, IL) Scriptural support for historical understanding of relationships - PDF
Nazareth Evangelical Lutheran Church (Naz) in Cedar Falls, IA.
Reports to congregation as they consider leaving the ELCA
- Church preparing for vote to leave the ELCA (here)
One of the largest ELCA churches in America, Community Church of Joy, in Arizona leaves the ELCA. The following links explain why.
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church Awareness Task Force - Report on ’09 Churchwide Assembly Decisions on Sexuality - (link below)
The purpose of this special newsletter is to fully inform you about important decisions about sexuality, with particular regard to homosexuality, made at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly (“CWA”) by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (“ELCA”), with whom we are affiliated. . .
| Awareness Taskforce Report_05_10_2010_for_website2.doc |
Affiliation Committee Report - St. Peter Luth. Church (Chapin, SC)
. . .Bound conscience
– Term coined by the ELCA’s task force on human sexuality.
– Humans determine what sin is, not God.
– Takes Scripture and Luther out of context in its defense
– Pastoral care efforts are scrutinized and diminished
– Affects Doctrine of Sin, Forgiveness and Salvation . . .
FAQ -Presentation of the Affiliation Committee - St. Peter Lutheran
. . .During our research we have discovered that we share different views with the ELCA on many areas of faith and God’s Word. Scripture, or the Authority of Scripture, the ELCA’s view of salvation and its stance on “universal salvation” (everybody is going to heaven no matter how religious or irreligious you are), and the ELCA’s structure and political involvement are just a few of the areas that we are in disagreement with and have focused on. . .
– Term coined by the ELCA’s task force on human sexuality.
– Humans determine what sin is, not God.
– Takes Scripture and Luther out of context in its defense
– Pastoral care efforts are scrutinized and diminished
– Affects Doctrine of Sin, Forgiveness and Salvation . . .
FAQ -Presentation of the Affiliation Committee - St. Peter Lutheran
. . .During our research we have discovered that we share different views with the ELCA on many areas of faith and God’s Word. Scripture, or the Authority of Scripture, the ELCA’s view of salvation and its stance on “universal salvation” (everybody is going to heaven no matter how religious or irreligious you are), and the ELCA’s structure and political involvement are just a few of the areas that we are in disagreement with and have focused on. . .
Standing Up For The Truth - Be Strong in the Lord (pdf Power Point)
Be Strong In The Lord presentation - Color version PDF by Hosanna! Lutheran in St. Charles, IL. What you and your ELCA congregation can do. . .
What You Need to Know About the ELCA
. . . We often hear most about the topic of lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships within the ELCA and possibly because of this it is often perceived as the mainissue. A group of us in our congregation who were concerned about the ELCA's interpretation of Scripture in this area decided to look at other areas that we also care about (but it is in no way considered to be a complete list of concerns). . .
Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley, MN
Pastors’ Response to Affiliations Assessment & Council Resolution
Over the last few weeks and months, many in the congregation have asked that the pastors make their views known on the issues before the congregation. You as members of the congregation are entitled to know your pastors’ views. . .
Red Hill Lutheran Church and School Tustin, California
Red Hill Lutheran Church Position Paper: Proposed Changes in the ELCA Regarding Clergy and Sexuality
. . . To vote on something that is already Biblically clear and historically settled is dangerous and bizarre. When we start voting on truth we venture into our own options and away from a rule and norm in Holy Scripture. . .
Findings - Our Saviour's Lutheran Church - Stanwood, WA
The following 34 pages documents the research and analysis conducted by the nine member Task Force over the past 5 months. . .
The ELCA – The Music Doesn’t Sound the Same
(scroll down to the bottom half of the webpage). . .The ELCA’s view of scripture has been shifting. It seems to me that as the ELCA has immersed itself in the “historical critical method” for examining scripture, over time an under current of “distrust” for the Bible has surfaced. . .
A Fork in the Road
(I read that an ELCA pastor put this together but I have no idea who) . . .Luther reminds us: “Doctrine directs us and shows us the way to heaven…we can be saved without love….but not without pure doctrine….The devil would dearly love to corrupt and overthrow our doctrine; that is why he attacks us so cleverly with this specious argument about not offending love and the harmony among churches” (Luther’s Works 27:41-42). . .
St. Timothy Lutheran Church in San Jose, CA - Materials and documents
Analysis of Lutheran Church Bodies in the United States: Information to Support an Affiliation Recommendation
Prepared by the Affiliation Team for St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church Council, San Jose, CA
Church Body Affiliation Presentation - St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church, San Jose, CA
Theological…What are the theological concerns that have caused us to recommend that we leave the ELCA?
• Let me focus my comments on two areas: 1) The place and authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions for matters of faith and life; and 2) The centrality of Christ and the cross
• Let me focus my comments on two areas: 1) The place and authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions for matters of faith and life; and 2) The centrality of Christ and the cross
Frequently Asked Questions & Answers - Immanuel Lutheran Church in La Vernia, TX
. . .Over the past several years it feels like the ELCA has actually left Lutheranism. Slowly but surely the ELCA has drifted from its Biblical, confessional, traditional grounding to a point of compromising some of the most basic and important Lutheran Christian understandings, teachings, interpretations and practices about the authority of Scripture, law and gospel, original sin, grace, ordination, and human relationships. . .
Iowa ELCA Church
Are We So Different? The ELS and the ELCA
. . .there are statements and pronouncements put out by the ELCA over the years demonstrating that the ELCA allows teachings which are not in agreement with the Bible. Such unbiblical teachings are, at the very least, tolerated by the ELCA without discipline. . .
Example of a Congregation Marriage Resolution by Looney Valley Lutheran Church
. . . Now, therefore, be it resolved that, Looney Valley Lutheran Church will only perform marriages between one man and one woman, and
Be it further resolved that, all requests for weddings at Looney Valley Lutheran Church must be approved by the pastor and the church council. . .
Be it further resolved that, all requests for weddings at Looney Valley Lutheran Church must be approved by the pastor and the church council. . .