ELCA Assembly Calls on the Denomination to Use “Gender-Inclusive and Expansive” Language for God8/15/2019 (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) At this week's national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, delegates passed a statement decrying sexism and calling for "gender-inclusive and expansive" language for God. (See here) The ELCA's hymnbook years ago removed all the masculine pronouns for God in the Psalms and the hymnal contains a hymn "Mothering God, you gave me birth." It appears that the ELCA leadership wants more. One ELCA congregation called Herchurch in California worships the goddess Sophia and uses the prayer "Our Mother who is within us, we celebrate your many names". Herchurch's pastor had a retreat in which (according to its website) “Pastor Stacy... invited us to form our own images in clay of Asherah, the mother goddess of the Canaanites..." to aid them in worshipping the Divine Feminine. If you know your Old Testament, God forbade the ancient Jews from worshipping the false gods Asherah and Baal. Years ago some ELCA Lutherans in Iowa complained to the Iowa bishop about Herchurch. The Iowa bishop asked the California bishop about the situation. The Iowa bishop then wrote "“After visiting with the bishop (in California) and with another synod staff member... there is an acknowledgement that this congregation ‘pushes around the edges’ on matters that make some of us uncomfortable. Things...seen by many to be outside the bounds, but don't rise to level of anything in the disciplinary arena. Speaking explicitly about the pastor and regular worship experience there, when folks have ‘dropped in unannounced’ they have experienced preaching that is decidedly within Lutheran orthodoxy and worship that is familiar and done with integrity. It was said that this small congregation is serving the local community very well..." If anyone doubts it is time to leave the ELCA, go to the herchurch.org website and see the idolatry that the ELCA permits. There has never been any discipline of Herchurch by the ELCA bishop. If goddess worship is now within Lutheran orthodoxy and "done with integrity", something has gone very, very wrong in the ELCA. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock 
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(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) Jesus said there are two genders: "He who made them in the beginning made them male and female" (Matthew 19:4) but now it appears the ELCA will be "educated" to believe otherwise. This week in its national assembly, delegates of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America approved a recommendation to ask the Office of the Bishop (Elizabeth Eaton) to "provide materials to facilitate education among ELCA members so as to build awareness of the broad varieties of gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation among God's people, as well as to provide pastoral care insights regarding concerns and issues of the transgender experience and gender nonconformity, and to request that the Church Council consider authorizing development of a social message on gender identity and gender expression." Eaton was interviewed by a Chicago newspaper and said "...God’s creation is diverse and... the diversity of God’s creation is actually a gift. When we take a look a people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s not completely binary. Everybody isn’t male or everybody isn’t female. There’s a whole spectrum to that. I think that’s something that’s new for a lot of our people to think about, but it’s the truth…" So it appears the ELCA is now going to "educate" people to see that there are not two genders but a "whole spectrum." Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock --- (See a report of day two at the 2019 ELCA Churchwide assembly here)  The following are posts are from Rev. Steven Gjerde and Rev. Richard Johnson (Wednesday, Aug. 7). They are attending the 2019 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Churchwide Assembly. (I do not know if they are voting members or visitors.) It is nice to get an inside perspective of someone attending the gathering. I think it is safe to say that the two writers are not completely supportive of all that is happening in the denomination.   "A clergywoman from New York (pronouns she/her/hers) moves an amendment that would also recognize tenth anniversary of ordination of LGBTQ etc. "All clergy are an intersection of identities and experiences . . . we need to reorient and challenge the ways some of these gifts are not fully valued." Vice president of Metro NY (pronouns she/her/hers) speaks in favor. Pr. Minneapolis (she/her/hers): "my wife and I are both ordained in the ELCA" speaks in favor. "I'm acutely aware that ten years ago I would not be able to be here. I would love to be a part of this commemoration." Young adult from Metro NY (she/her/hers) "We must recognize that until ten years ago we did not recognize all women." NO ONE speaks against. Voting. 824 to 75. And so a commemoration of ordination of women becomes yet another LGBTQ thing. Let's see how that commemoration flies in congregations. There is applause; PB Eaton reminds people not to applaud. "There are people who do not agree with the action; out of respect for their opinion, please do not applaud." The wording of the amendment finally on the screen: 'and the 10th anniversary of the ELCA's decision to remove the barriers to ordination for people in same-gendered relationships and recognize the diversity of gifts that women's ordination brings to this church.'" - Rev. Richard Johnson (See here)  "I'm getting sick of the pronoun thing, so I'm not going to play any more." - Rev. Richard Johnson (See here)  Rev. Richard Johnson writes, "Vice President William Horne called upon to give his report. He, like others, refers to "siblings in Christ." It occurred to me this morning that this isn't just to avoid the longer "sisters and brothers," but to avoid offending non-binary people. It seems that the memo has gone out that this is the preferred language now." (See here)  "Tim Blevins of 1517 Media (Augsburg Fortress, Fortress Press, Sparkhouse and something else) is introduced and presents a video about the agency. Two of the three Fortress Press books highlighted in the video have a Nadia Bolz-Weber connection--in one case, she wrote the forward; in the other, there's a quote from her on the cover." - Rev. Richard Johnson (See here)        --- Bonus from Tuesday (Aug. 6, 2019): From Rev. Richard Johnson: "Tonight I'm attending the "hearing" on the revision of Vision & Expectations. This is sort of an outlier, since there's nothing about this on the agenda. But it was set up as an opportunity to explain what's happening with this proposed revision, hear people's ideas, etc. Chaired by Pr. Peder Johansen who is apparently a Council Member on the task force working on this. He turns this over to Philip Hirsch, executive director of ELC Domestic Mission unit. The draft called "Trustworthy Servants of the People of God" (see May 2019 Forum Letter) was so problematic that it apparently has been withdrawn.The email Hirsch sent out to all "rostered leaders" recently said "Our inclination is to begin fresh and not try to edit" TSPG "and to start with your voices." So this session is part of listening to "our voices."... ...As Hirsch explains this decision, he seems to be saying that a primary reason for it is that groups like ELM (Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries), weren't invited to be part of the process. He then adds seminary students and ethnic communities to those who "weren't included." The Domestic Mission unit has called together some listening groups. What they noticed is that there are two things conflated, one the need to deal with misconduct among the clergy, and the other a more aspirational piece about "expectations." In other words, the problem is that V&E was being used in a disciplinary way. There's more than sexuality that needs to go into a document like this. Cultural sensitivity to racism, for instance, needs to be included. First speaker notes that V&E had excellent theological grounding, while TSPG did not, it went right to behaviors. What's your intent for a new document? Response: a statement of faith has got to be part of the new document. What's your intention to include folks that represent the more traditional or conservative ELCA members? Response: the bishop we have on the group is Kurt Kuserow, deliberately chosen because he represents the more traditionalist view. We want to be sure that we reach out to all four "categories" in the sexuality study (i.e., the various positions on homosexuality). Minneapolis pastor who identifies herself as using she/her/hers pronoun. (I can see where this is going.) She wants to be sure that if there is to be an aspirational document, it has to be clear that is what it is and why we need it. It can't be used as a cudgel against LGBTQ community, but also e.g. seminarians, young leaders who may have different ideas about relationships (i.e., they want to have sex outside of marriage). I don't think we should have this document at all. SW PA pastor. Commend church for moving past a document used to separate those "good enough" to be pastors from those not good enough. We also need guidelines on how we are to care for ourselves; the temptation is for leaders not to do so. Chicago pastor who uses she/her/hers pronouns. I don't believe we can have a document like this without it being weaponized. Pastor from Upper Susquehanna Synod. He doesn't identify his pronouns. Let's talk and think about money also. As we prepare people to go into rostered leadership in this church, one of the most important things we need to do is to outline realistically the economic realities of the communities into which they will be called. Minnesota young adult lay person: Church needs leaders who can credibly relate to their congregations. I've seen peers go through candidacy process in conditions that encourage them to lie about their relationships and beliefs. Pastor in Northern Illinois synod. Was involved in a discussion of TSPG that included some Presbyterians. In their church, expectations are for all members, not just clergy. She also saw a document from the UCC which was brief and very good (didn't focus on sex). Have you considered other church's comparable documents. Answer: some of us have, but we will be doing that more intentionally. Adds that we have different expectations for pastors because of the power dimension. Pastor from MN (she/her/hers)--how many on the task force are single? Response: two of the twelve. Pastor says she is single, and she observes that single pastors are treated much more suspiciously than married people, who are assumed to be OK. When the people who are having the conversation are all married, that's a problem. (This gets applause) Response: Listening group is not intended to be totally inclusive. Her comment: 50% of people are single. Pr. Johansen points out that the statement in TSPG against cohabitation was there in order to have it in congruence with the sexuality statement. Minnesota "queer pastor, also married, pronouns she/her/hers". Church has been too interest in "CYA" (I think that means cover your ass) rather than the gospel. We need to be bound by the gospel, not by an unethical document. Pastor from WVA/WMD synod, serving on candidacy committee. "We've been watching very carefully." We want a document steeped in the Lutheran heritage. As a clergy woman I have to squint a little to see myself in the Augsburg Confession, but I can see myself. Pastor from SW TX: What does the church need? We need to talk about sex, when it's good and when it's bad. We need to say our pastors have sex, so deal with it. A huge part of the problem is that we're not talking about it. We want to control sex, but not talk about it. We talk about clergy having power, but female clergy actually experience men having power over them, and we need to recognize that. Candidate for ministry, on internship. Affirm what committee is trying to do. We need a document outlining expectations. I was excited by the title of the document TSPS--"trustworthy" is what we need to be, and I need to know what is expected of me. Not just about sex. Woman pastor: I've been married 35 years, but I don't see why my experience should be normative. Document puts terrible burden on pastors--we need self care, there's no document telling congregations they need to care for their pastor. (applause) Iowa pastor: remember the single people. I was single when I was ordained. I dated, got engaged, got married. I felt relief on my wedding day that now I wouldn't be asked to account for my life in a certain way. Once I got married my economic reality changed, so I could consider different calls. While you're listening, include single income households. Pastor Texas: what the church needs is healthy pastors/leaders who can have healthy relationships. Documents we've had have forced people to make decisions that have caused rushed marriages, bad marriages, etc. We don't need seminarians or pastors rushing into marriages. We don't need a document like this at all. (muttering of affirmations all around me) College student excited to start candidacy process. It's crazy to me that people are already talking to me about V&E, that I should start practicing those values already. She is LBGTQ woman of color. This isn't realistic; we know our high school and college students are having sex. We need to hear their voices. Pastor from Brooklyn. When I went through candidacy no one asked me about my sex life, because I had a heteronormative appearing marriage. Nobody asked me. This church is dying for a sexual ethic. We know the truth: we don't hold congregants to any standard, we're so desperate to have them come to our church. These documents are "white supremacist and heteronormative, based on some 1950s standards that we'll never see again" NE PA pastor (she/her/hers) We don't need a new document, because we don't need any document. We already have what we need in our baptismal vows. Pastor from Luther college (she/her/hers). Whatever we get, it shouldn't be a revision of V&E because of its history. We need to officially renounce that document. Response: We plan to begin from scratch, not revise either V&E or TSPG. Deadline is fall 2020 Ohio pastor: When I started my candidacy I was married, then divorced, single mom. Multiyear hiatus, now in my first call at 60 years old. There are churches who want pastors and can't afford them, we need to stop putting labels on people. MN pastor (he/him/his). We don't need an aspirational document Chair of synod candidacy committee. I've listened, I agree with much, but how about practical realities. What is a candidacy committee supposed to do? We've repudiated V&E but we don't have a new document. Response: Church council did debate that very question. They voted not to rescind V&E but leave it in place until a new document is decided. So we continue to use a document that's not being used for the purpose for which it was originally intended? Makes no sense. What can we do at this assembly to address this problem? Johansen: Constitution requires that there be a document, so we can't just scrap the present document until there's a new one. In the meantime, let's be better stewards of the existing document (i.e, don't misuse it). Conference of bishops did advise their candidacy committees not to misuse document." (See here) --- Another Bonus from Tuesday: "... approved with no discussion a recommendation to ask the Office of the Bishop to "provide materials to facilitate education among ELCA members so as to build awareness of the broad varieties of gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation among God's people, as well as to provide pastoral care insights regarding concerns and issues of the transgender experience and gender nonconformity, and to request that the Church Council consider authorizing development of a social message on gender identity and gender expression." Posted by Rev. Richard Johnson (See here) (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.) The following excerpts describe a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on his (? I'm not sure if this person is biologically male or female) church's website: "The Rev. Mark David Johnson (they/them) grew up in Cranston RI. They were drawn to the church by their love of music... They were graduated from Cranston High School East in 2001...They applied to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia... Their thesis presented a theological approach to food... Mark is passionate about gun violence prevention, interfaith and ecumenical relationships, urban theory and ministry, and queer theology. Mark currently lives in Bordentown NJ with their spouse, the Rev Ian Hill, who serves as pastor of St Mark Lutheran Church in Hamilton NJ....Pastor Mark uses gender neutral pronouns. This is an important part of their identity, and is also a commitment to creating a more gender-friendly world.." This is the strange teaching that results when one rejects the words of Jesus who taught the world indeed is binary, made up of only two sexes ("He who created them in the beginning made them male and female" Matthew 19:4). The further the ELCA gets from Scripture, the stranger and stranger it becomes. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock  Below is a tweet by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They call it "#bestnine2018." The first picture listed is a statement by ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton saying, "No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued. Human sexuality and gender identity is a beautiful mystery. Trans people, like all people, are beloved by God." The ELCA is calling this one of their Best Nine of 2018. Also included in their best nine are two pictures (maybe three) of the atrocious ELCA Youth Gathering where teenagers were indoctrinated with leftist anti-Biblical theology and politics, a bunch of "ELCA votes" buttons, three pictures of candles and a cross picture. 
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A couple weeks ago, Masters of Divinity student Elle Dowd preached during worship in the school's Augustana Chapel (listen to it here or read it here).
Elle Dowd didn't want us to miss it, as she contacted me a number of times wanting me to read her sermon (and write about, no doubt). The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago certainly thought highly of it as well, because they promoted it on their Facebook page and linked to the full audio of the sermon. 
(Go see the seminary Facebook post here)
Here is Elle Dowd's second tweet seeking my attention:
Below is the type of teaching and preaching future ELCA pastors are digesting (and it has been like this for years). Lowlights of the sermon:
You can read more about this ELCA seminary student here. ELCA pastor Lura Groen responded to my tweeting this article:
And this from ELCA pastor John Sipf:
Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) made a statement today that is very indicative of where the ELCA is now, how they have swallowed the lies of the world and departed from the Word of God. Presiding Bishop Eaton declared,
"No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued. Human sexuality and gender identity is a beautiful mystery. Trans people, like all people, are beloved by God." 
Here is Bishop Eaton's Twitter post -
Presiding Bishop Eaton's statement is one of support for transgender persons. It was apparently made in response to a recent statement made by President Trump "that his administration is 'seriously' considering changing the way it treats transgender people under the law, confirming what administration officials describe as a debate about whether to define a person’s sex as a biological fact determined at birth." (see here) There was at least one request for a statement by Bishop Eaton about this:
God does love all people. But that does not mean He loves everything we do, everything we say, everything we "are" or all of our actions. Bishop Eaton, by her statement, is affirming homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and all the claimed gender identities as "beautiful," that they are good, that they are not sin. This is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Harming people by encouraging sin. Standing against our holy and loving God. Why would anyone be part of this denomination, this evil work of the devil that emerges in proclamations and statements such as this? Also, notice how the Presiding Bishop says "No human institution decides who is human, who is visible, who is valued." Yet, the ELCA supports the killing of unborn humans and actually pays for employee abortions in their health care insurance. Many who are pro-abortion love to claim that the unborn children are not humans to justify their position. You can't have it both ways, Bishop Eaton. Below you will find tweets of praise which Bishop Eaton received for making this statement. (Her statement has been shared on Facebook almost 2700 times and over 400 times on Twitter.)
(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
The most recent edition of Living Lutheran, the national magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has an article about “Seeking the Spirit Within”. It states “Prayer can include coloring mandalas, using beads, meditating over a piece of Scripture, walking a labyrinth or repeating a name or phrase.” A mandala is a ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe, which is used for the purpose of meditation and trance induction. So why is the ELCA promoting this? Repeating a name or phrase over and over is also part of Buddhist meditation (think “Om”), but where does Jesus ever teach us to say a word over and over in order to meditate? This is called syncretism, taking non-Christian practices and beliefs and mixing them together with Christianity. It is what got the ancient Jews in trouble when they tried to mix Baal worship with the worship of Jehovah. The ELCA needs to remember the words of the First Commandment regarding syncretism: Thou shalt have no other gods. June is gay pride month and Living Lutheran devotes a whole article to ways your church can be gay-friendly. Don’t talk in Sunday school materials about mom and dad since we need to “remember your same-gendered-married couples.” Get a gender-neutral bathroom in your church. Celebrate gender identity and transition (changing one's sex) in your fellow Christians. Don’t say Christian “brothers and sisters” since this excludes non-binary and transgender people. It appears the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has swallowed the GLBT agenda whole. Living Lutheran no longer allows the conservative view on homosexuality to be even heard. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Pro-transgender advice from ELCA Lutheran magazine: Say "siblings in Christ, instead of brothers and sisters in Christ; parents and guardians, instead of mom and dad; and all genders, instead of both genders" These pro-transgender articles from Living Lutheran keep coming, without a hint that there is another side to the issue, namely, that rejecting one's appointed sex is a rejection of God's plan for one's life. No one is ever allowed to say that in this official magazine of the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The church I attended as a teenager in Omaha used to support the camp referred to below. My old pastors would weep to see what the ELCA has become. In Christ, Pastor Tom Brock (See article here)
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has chosen a transgender boy and his transgender advocacy activist mom to be speakers at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. (see below and this link)
The boy (who wants to be a girl) is just 12 years old and has been carted around the United States to speak for transgender rights.
Kevin DeYoung writes, "The Bible teaches that God made us male or female, and no matter our own feelings or confusion, we should act in accordance with the biological reality of God’s good design. Transgenderism falls short of the glory of God and is not the way to walk in obedience to Christ." (see here)
God does not desire children or adults to reject their God-given genders, mutilate their bodies and pretend to live as the opposite sex. They need to be helped out of their confusion and embrace the truth of their biological sex. But that will not be taught at the 2018 ELCA Youth Gathering. Sadly and infuriatingly, the trans-advocate mother and son are not the only troubling speakers the ELCA has hired to speak to the 30,000 impressionable teens. ELCA's Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche is one of the Gathering keynote speakers. She is an outspoken radical and controversial pastor, who gained fame in the ELCA for co-authoring the (please excuse the vulgarity) "Fuck This Shit" devotional, is an advocate for premarital sex, and when you read her tweets, you will find it displays lots of anger, swearing, demonitization of white males, racist comments about white people, liberal politics, gay pride, trans pride and anger at the United States of America. (see here) ELCA Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber is another keynote speaker at the ELCA Youth Gathering. She is a foul-mouthed, proponent of premarital sex, supporter of Planned Parenthood, who has many theological beliefs that run contrary to Scripture. She is a universalist who has presided over a transgender re-naming ceremony and has had a drag queen emcee her church's children's program. (read more about Rev. Bolz-Weber here and here) If you are sending your youth to the ELCA National Youth Gathering, please consider cancelling their trip. Below is the transgender advocate mother's tweets about speaking at the Youth Gathering.
Luther Seminary has a website that provides advice and help for pastors writing sermons. An article on the ELCA seminary website shows you how far the denomination has departed from Scripture and how the secular world mindset has taken over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The article's authors edited the following Bible verse to say: “They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and Ze delivered them from their distress; Ze brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart” - Psalm 107:13-14.
The article's ELCA affiliated authors replaced two pronouns for "He," used to refer to God in the verses, with the recently invented word "Ze." According to the Cambridge Dictionary, 'ze' is "a pronoun sometimes used instead of 'he' or 'she' because it does not show a particular gender." (see here) This is all part of the gender fluidity lie, transgenderism embrace, rejection of calling God "Father" and rewriting of God's Word that is dominating the culture. Again, this is an article for pastors posted by a website of Luther Seminary, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America institution. (see here) The article was co-authored by Rev. Jennifer Chrien and Jessica Davis. Jennifer Chrien is the senior pastor at the ELCA's Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Simi Valley, CA. Jessica Davis is a chaplain for #decolonizeLutheranism, an organization formed of mostly ELCA leaders, and a signer of the "Naked & Unashamed Statement" which was also written by ELCA leaders. Interestingly, last year Jessica Davis was part of a discussion panel that included the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and is obviously in a position of influence in the ELCA.
The apostate church, the world and ultimately the devil want to destroy the life, faith and souls of our youth. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of this: injecting sexual perversion and evil into the hearts and minds of young people. They are justifying and encouraging sexual sin and denying the clear reading of scripture against it.
Take a look at some of what the the ELCA has been doing lately that is aimed at the youth of the church: - The ELCA's Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, in their newsletter, invited LGBT youth on a youth retreat - 
- Lutherock is a camp of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, located in Newland, NC. They hold all kinds of gatherings for children and teens. Below Lutherock posted this message and picture of a same-sex wedding of their past staff members. It gives us clear indication as to the mindset and beliefs taught to the children who attend the camp. 
- A large gathering for ELCA high school youth in regions 1-4 was held at California Lutheran University (CLU), June 28 - July 2, 2017. One of the featured speakers was transgender ELCA pastor, Megan Rohrer. (see here) 
Below is the transgender pastor's post on Instagram while at the youth gathering.
Of course, this ELCA gathering for youth had "All Gender Bathrooms."
- Lastly, we have the #ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza. This is a gathering for ELCA persons who work with the youth of the denomination. The following are tweets from the ELCA Youth Ministry Network and people at the "Extravaganza." Most are related to the session given by a transgender child's mother. 
On a different topic, we have the ELCA Youth Ministry Network tweeting this gender-avoiding reference to the Trinity.
You can not change your sex. You can not change your gender. Those are facts. Trying to do so goes against God's will for you and is a sin against God. (see here)
It is also a sin to encourage sinful behavior. The ELCA is guilty of this. They do this regarding homosexuality and transgenderism. This week the ELCA's St. Matthew-Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey, announced that one of their pastors is "transitioning" from female to male. They will be holding a renaming service for this pastor. The bishop of the New Jersey Synod, Tracie Bartholomew, will be the featured preacher that day. 
Here is Pastor Rose Beeson, the transitioning woman who is having the renaming service.
Pastor Beeson's church will also be holding LGBT Etiquette Training. The church newsletter describes it this way, “a refresher course on terminology used by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people to equip us with more tools and resources to make St. Matthew Trinity an even safer and more welcoming congregation. This builds on SMT's historic commitment to be a Reconciling in Christ congregation, welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” (See here) Here are a couple excited St. Matthew-Trinity members sharing the news of their pastor's renaming ceremony. 
This isn't just a case of one wayward church or one wayward ELCA leader embracing transgenderism. It is happening throughout the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. - Not long ago a ELCA website published an article by an ELCA pastor about her transgender child. (See here)
- The ELCA's Sierra Pacific Synod 2016 Assembly Handbook tells us how the synod had a workshop called “The Story of Gender.” Here are the first few sentences describing the workshop:
“Gender is no longer just male and female. As a church we need to know and understand the language around gender identities and be able to include this language into our liturgy. Now that many people are getting the language needed to help them understand who they are, such as transgender, people are now able to live into authenticity.” (See here, page 18) - Also in the Sierra Pacific Synod 2016 Assembly Handbook you can read all the changes being recommending to the synod and the ELCA by the Committee on Gender Identity Inclusivity in response to two resolutions that were passed at the 2015 Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly. (see previous link and go to page 71) - Fittingly, I just came across this tonight.
- Then there is this from the ELCA Youth Ministry Network:
As part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's observance of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, the denomination conducted a survey of ELCA members. The survey said "...we are interested in learning your current knowledge of the Reformation and participation in the 500th anniversary, including Reformation worship, education and service activities." (see here) If you took the survey you would have come across this page:  A concerned ELCA member, Matt Reisetter, sent me this screenshot of the ELCA survey. The ELCA's list of answers to the question, "What is your gender?" included the option "Not listed." This survey answer option is certainly consistent with the radically liberal view held by the ELCA on sexuality. The ELCA Presiding Bishop recently made this statement, "When we take a look a people’s sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s not completely binary. Everybody isn’t male or everybody isn’t female. There’s a whole spectrum to that." (Listen here) Mr. Reisetter decided to write to ELCA leadership and share his thoughts in this regard:  Exposing the ELCA agrees with Mr. Reisetter's assessment. I would like to encourage readers to stand up for the Truth of God's Word and like Matt Reisetter, or Martin Luther himself, challenge pastors and leaders when they are teaching contrary to Scripture. I would also encourage you to share the ELCA's maleficence with ELCA members and encourage them to consider whether they are abiding with God in staying with this heretical denomination. (The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
Today I talked with an elderly Lutheran woman who left her church because it hired a lesbian pastor who has a partner. The church is not far from where I live, and I went to its website to see what such a pastor would preach. The website says it is a progressive church, then says (repeatedly) how much they welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. The elderly woman had told me that her last visit to her church was when they were celebrating "Gender Identity Sunday". In her blog the pastor begins by quoting Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and then says: "His words and approach do not represent the God of love that I follow, just like we don’t beat our children in the shed anymore...As for Hell, Hell isn’t a place. It’s an experience: Hell is what the families in Flint Michigan are going through. Hell is a child going to bed hungry, their parents frantic and broken not knowing where their next meal is coming from. Hell is hoping the war in the Middle East doesn’t claim more children-our children. Hell is standing at the border of an unfamiliar country, holding a sick child, only to be turned away." She is wrong. Jesus talked about Hell as a place where there will be "eternal punishment" (Matthew 25:46). In fact, Jesus talks more about Hell than anyone else in the New Testament. And the Bible teaches that people who live in impenitent sin, including fornication, idolatry, drunkenness, homosexuality, etc., will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Perhaps the pastor has a vested interest in denying the reality of Hell. The elderly woman I spoke to was upset that the ELCA synod leadership promoted this person to become the pastor of her church. Not too many years ago, someone living in impenitent sin would be lovingly challenged to turn from sin, and if they refused they could be excommunicated. Instead today such people are made pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The good news is the elderly woman has found a very biblical Lutheran Church that she now loves. In Jesus our Savior, Pastor Tom Brock Pastorsstudy.org |
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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