ELCA Lutheran bishops' priorities: Overthrow the patriarchy and white supremacy, and embrace DEI

(The following article was written by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and Twitter - here.)
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The bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are meeting and the ELCA's website has summarized some of their actions. Not a word about evangelism, bringing the lost to Christ, or world missions. Instead the bishops are spending time lamenting white supremacy and the patriarchy. The "patriarchy", I believe, is the belief that using exclusively male language for God (like "Father, Son and Holy Spirit") is wrong. Overthrowing the patriarchy means overthrowing exclusively male leadership in the Church. But Jesus never taught us to pray to "God the Mother", only to God the Father. And the Bible indeed teaches that women should not preach over adult men (I Timothy 2:12-15). But the ELCA is a big defender of feminism, women's ordination, and abortion rights. The ELCA's Luther Seminary now has more female students than male and the ELCA's Minneapolis Area Synod recently came up with an "inclusive" worship liturgy which worships God the Mother and is queer/trans friendly.

The ELCA has lost its way. Missions and evangelism has taken a back seat to things like DEI (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity). Social Justice has replaced the priority of preaching the Gospel of Christ to save people from Hell. But many ELCA leaders no longer believe in Hell. To quote ELCA head Bishop Elizabeth Easton, "Hell may exist but I believe it is empty."

So if Hell is empty and people do not need to believe in Christ to be saved, what will the ELCA bishops do with their money, time and talents? Overthrow the patriarchy and promote liberal politics.

In Christ,

Pastor Tom Brock

From the ELCA website on the bishops' meeting:

"(The bishops) received an update on synod diversity goals from Judith Roberts, senior director for ELCA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The report focused on the work being done in synods as called for in the continuing resolution adopted by the 2016 Churchwide Assembly, which requires each of the church’s expressions annually to assess its ethnic and racial diversity.
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(The bishops) engaged in learning and deliberations on white supremacy and patriarchy in a session led by Ms. Jennifer De Leon, director for racial justice, and Dr. Mary Streufert, director for gender justice and women’s empowerment. The bishops reviewed the conference’s work in 2023 on racial justice and gender justice and upcoming work of the church related to white supremacy and patriarchy. Small group discussions focused on white supremacy and patriarchy..."

(https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/8219)