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ELCA Synod Council Attempts to Remove Church's Council and Majority of Congregation as Voting Members

4/15/2013

10 Comments

 
If you are unaware of what has been happening with Grace Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, WI read this article for some background information.  This article also reports on a new development.  The article is titled "Synod Council: Grace leaders no longer eligible to serve." 

(The following report came from Dean Kallenbach but I am not sure who wrote the first paragraph.)

Here is the response by the President of Grace Lutheran Church -- Anne Carter -- to the Synod Council's interpretation that the Council of the congregation needs to be removed.  While this is addressed to her congregation, I am sharing it with her permission and awareness to keep you all in the loop, and to keep prayers coming on this matter.

AN UPDATE

Over the last few days we have received correspondence from both the Synod Council of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin and the plaintiffs attorney, Drew Ryberg. Some of these letters have been contemptuous, insulting and condescending. I will not share them. These communications will undoubtedly continue until the hearing scheduled on April 23, 2013.

As we had anticipated, the plaintiffs still maintain that they have rights to the property and assets of Grace Lutheran Church. These communications reveal that the Synod Council supports those claims and is willing to defy the constitution and violate the autonomy of an individual congregation in order to take control of the property and assets of Grace. While the Synod has made claims that they are inclusive and will promote reconciliation and healing, those claims have been proven false. While there have been claims made that this lawsuit involved voting rights and affiliation, that pretense is gone.

The authority of the Synod Council resides with the NW Synod of Wisconsin’s constitution. That constitution does not give the Synod Council any authority over the assets, governance, property, pastoral call or membership of an individual congregation. The decision that was issued by the Synod Council on January 16, 2012, is final. It cannot be changed 15 months after it was issued. If the Council wishes for a different decision, it must re-initiate the adjudication process between Grace Lutheran Church and Amazing Grace ELCA, Inc. If it is not satisfied with our compliance of their decision, it must enter into the displinary process.

As our lawyers prepare for the hearing with Judge GaleWyrick, please continue to pray for them. Please pray for the judge and our judicial system. Please pray for God's will to be done.

Grace Lutheran Church is not a trophy to be won. The experience of Grace should not be a lesson for other churches to witness and fear. Grace Lutheran Church is a house of God. It is a place where Jesus Christ is loved. It is a place where salvation is taught, repentence is made and forgiveness is granted. It is a place of hope, laughter, joy, relationship, praise, prayer and adoration of a wonderful, merciful God. It is to be respected, honored and protected.

The people of Grace are strong, determined and focused. We have been richly blessed over these last months. May we honor our dear Savior now with confidence in His strength. May we remember His determination and focus as He went to Jerusalem to die. May we hold fast to the blessing of life with Him during these days of challenge and forevermore.

This weekend we celebrate a 'Spring Fling'. Please come to church and join together with good food and fellowship. Come to church and join in as we continue to sing with the heavenly host:

Christ Jesus is Risen!  He is risen indeed!!  Alleluia!!!

Thank you.

Anne


Here is another statement by Grace Lutheran's council president from Sunday.


Good Morning,

My name is Anne Carter. I am the president of Grace Lutheran Church.This morning my comments are not aimed primarily at those here in attendance at Grace but to those who are worshipping with us on TV or radio. Yesterday there was an article in the local paper that was misleading at best and has caused confusion and fear. This is a complex issue.  Some have said that I use big words that not everyone can understand. So I would like to address these concerns as simply as I can.A year and a half ago Grace was sued by a small group of people who left Grace, started a new church and then decided that they wanted to have Grace all to themselves. After the communications of this last week, we now know that ELCA leadership and attorneys fully support this take over attempt and are themselves after control of the assets of Grace. On Friday I sent a letter to the Synod Council protesting that they can’t change a decision that was made over a year ago. Please be assured that our attorneys are looking out for our best interests. I am sure that in this next week we will be receiving more letters so I will say nothing further at this time.There have been many stories told about what is going on at Grace. One of them is that Grace is closed; but, as you can see and hear, we are here having a worship service. Another is that Pastor Irgens and Pastor Nestingen are no longer pastors here; but, as you can see and hear, they are conducting our service this morning. I think that instead of asking what is the latest story being told about Grace, we instead ask why there are stories being told at all. Why do they want the Eau Claire community to believe that Grace is closed? Why do they not want the community to hear what our pastors are preaching? And most importantly, why is it that there has not been one ELCA pastor or congregation that has protested the treatment that Grace is receiving? If they can do these things to us, they will do it to them.Jesus tells a story in the New Testament about a rich man whose land produced a bumper crop. This man wondered what he would do with all his grain and all his wealth. He decided to build new barns and store up his crops. He decided to take his wealth and live the kind of life he wanted to live: to make his own rules and do exactly what he wanted to do. That night God said, ‘You smug, arrogant, proud fool. Your life is demanded of you.’ He was called to almighty God to give an account of his life.There are so many things that I don’t know. I don’t know why a journalist would only look at one side of a story before publishing an article. I don’t know why the leadership of an organization would not learn and understand the rules of the organization they are supposed to uphold. I don’t know why that leadership would support a ruling simply because they were told to do so; why they would sign something that they didn’t understand.I don’t know so many things, but I do know this:  Everything we have, everything we experience, everything we possess is a gift of God.  And one day each one of us will have to give an account to God for the life we live. On that day God will ask each of us to explain the choices we made. Every choice we make in this life whether big or small affects this world and affects God’s church. Every choice we make reflects where our true allegiance lies. I hope that when we give an account we can say with Joshua, we chose to serve the Lord.All glory goes to God the Father who through His Son has gotten us the victory:  the victory over mendacity, ignorance, greed and cowardice. He has conquered death. If we choose Him, He will conquer anything.Hallelujah!

Anne Carter
14 April 2013
10 Comments
Dave from Minnesota
4/15/2013 06:02:48 am

I have been to this church before. It's a very well maintained larger brick structure in a nice older neighborhood near downtown Eau Claire. But is the dollar value of the property worth it for the ECLA to keep doing this?

No. Its not that. At least not anymore. As the letter writer above alludes to, its about an authoritarian entity (the ELCA) trying to make an example for others to see. The ELCA is saying "we do not allow dissent. This is what we will do to any other church if you don't comply with what we say".

Imagine a rural congergation with 50 active members and few assets other than a small 120 year-old church. They see this and will decide it isn't worth trying to leave. They will go through the motions each Sunday, but eventually their church will become hallow. Thanks ELCA. You are killing 160 years of Christian tradition in rural and small town in the upper midwest.

Reply
Chuck Braun
4/17/2013 12:01:46 am

If worst comes to worst, and the Ex-Lutheran Apostate Cult in America leaders do manage to wrest control of this church building, I would hope that a nearby Bible-believing church would allow Grace to use their facilities for worship, until such time as they could find a vacant church building to purchase.

This story reminds me of an Episcopal congregation that wanted to buy its building from TEC, since they were becoming an ACNA church. Although the asking price for the building could be paid by the congregation, TEC sold it to a Muslim group for 10% of the price.

A church is not a building, it's people joined together to worship the Lord. And Grace Lutheran will find a building if it loses its present one. But rest assured, Bishop Pederson will have to stand before Jesus Christ someday. Those professed Christians who cared not for "the least of these", meaning believers in Christ, will have quite a different fate than those who treated Christ's Church well...

So much for the "bound conscience" and the rights of individual congregations. The Holy Spirit has led 10 percent of the ELCA membership away from that apostate-lead "church", and judgment awaits for those false shepherds who would lead their flocks down to the Pit with them.

I think we need the addresses of the ELCA bishops, so that non-ELCA Lutherans and other Bible-believing Christian may flood their mailboxes with calls to repent from their spiteful, hateful and Christ-dishonoring actions, lest they already be hopelessly reprobate.

Reply
Chuck Braun
4/17/2013 01:58:47 am

Dan, I just emailed Bishop Pederson, urging him to repent. Is there a way to start a grass-roots campaign to summon Bible-believing Lutherans and other Christians to picket ELCA headquarters in Chicago? I'm game. Is there a group of Christian attorneys who could be entreated to help Grace Lutheran?

Reply
Dan Skogen
4/17/2013 04:08:56 am

Chuck,

I like your ideas. If someone wants to organize that kind of thing I would be willing to get the information out on Exposing the ELCA. I wonder if Christian legal organizations like the ACLJ, the Rutherford Institute, etc. would provide their legal services.

Reply
Chuck Braun
4/17/2013 08:03:49 am

Here's the bishops's email: bishop@nwswi.org. Perhaps there could be an "Occupy the ELCA" Sunday, when anti-ELCA Lutherans and other Christians could worship at ELCA churches, refuse Holy Communion by crossing their arms instead of receiving the wafer, and speak up, leave information about this atrocity, or peacefully picket as the congregants leave worship. Perhaps Dan could contact the leaders of the NALC,LCMC and AFLC, so their members who were once ELCA can participate. LCMS has enough on her plate right now to put her hat in the ring, and they are far less ecumenical (for some very good reasons), but perhaps some of their members could reprove their kid sister church in some fashion, kindly and covertly.

Mike Holman
4/18/2013 12:07:44 pm

Considering all the changes made to the ELCA constitution in 2011 (see "Bishops Tighten Control," THE LUTHERAN HEDGEHOG, Fall 2011, p. 3), is it even still possible for a congregation to leave the ELCA and keep its property? (See also "Red Queen Rules," HEDGEHOG, Fall 2010, pp. 1-2).

Reply
Didaskalos link
4/20/2013 12:08:04 am

Where the rubber *really* meets the road for the Ear-tickling Lutheran Church in America:

[from "Bishops Tighten Control," THE LUTHERAN HEDGEHOG, Fall 2011]

New loyalty covenants for congregations. The [2011] Churchwide Assembly also adopted the following:

"To request congregations, in collaboration with synods, to begin, develop, review or redefine their unique mission plans by the end of 2012, so that each congregation strengthens its capabilities and resources for witness and mission;"

The sample covenant (Exhibit 1D) emphasizes that every congregation “shall ... motivate its members to provide financial support” to the ELCA.

Reply
anonymous
4/18/2013 02:24:57 pm

Consider this:

Duane Pederson, former pastor of First Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, is no longer presiding bishop of the NW Synod of Wisconsin. He resigned his position effective March 31, 2013, to accept an interim position as pastor at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Old Saybrook, Connecticut (staff@stpaul-elca.org). No interim bishop has been installed. Upon his departure, the VP of the Synod Council became acting head. That position is held by Lynn Fering a member of First Lutheran Church. Tom Guelzow, attorney for the NW Synod who also represented Duane Pederson in his recent divorce, is a member of First Lutheran Church. Duane Pederson established the SAWC Amazing Grace ELCA, Inc., plaintiffs in the suit, in April 2011. Since that time Amazing Grace has held services and meetings at First Lutheran Church.

Reply
B. Wyler
4/20/2013 07:21:57 am

Since the members of Grace Lutheran who want to stay with LCMC have been reclassified by the court as associate members WITHOUT voting rights (google the MODEL CONSTITUTION FOR CONGREGATIONS OF THE ELCA, and see section C8.02.d), how can they even function as a body to make decisions?

Reply
Chuck Braun
4/21/2013 02:24:34 pm

Since when can a court of law in a nation which claims "freedom to exercise religion" have jurisdiction over the Church of Jesus Christ, without having made the U.S, Constitution null and void? Face it, the theological liberals and the political liberals (via their Hollywood mouthpiece of the unsaved libertines and their lucre) have declared war on the true Church. And the silence is deafening. So much for freedom of religion, at least for Christians in America. The liberal tail is now wagging the dog, and why is there no outcry?


The majority of these people at Grace wanted out of the ELCA, and the minority appear on the verge of forcing them out of their home. The top management of the ELCA is in damage control mode, wants every penny they can get to spew more heresy to their flocks. These leaders will have to answer to the owner of the Vineyard when they meet Him on the Last Day. Those overseers who used the Vineyard for the enemy's purpose will be put in their place with the unbelievers. Those who stand idly by, simply so they will not lose their jobs with Bishop Hanson, will too receive that which they deserve for their complacence. A Baptism is a terrible thing to waste. An eternity with Jesus is a terrible thing to waste. Repent, ye brothers and sisters, for the Lord is abounding in steadfast love and will grant forgiveness to you. Let these people go!

In the final analysis, the people of Grace Church will find a new place to meet, should the enemy win this battle. But he has already lost the war. Grace will survive. If not in their present building (oh, such valuable property across the street from the courthouse), in another location. And I say to Pastors Nestigen and
Irgens, to build the new church building one brick higher. If we could get a thousand people to donate a hundred dollars apiece for the down payment, my check would be in the mail for them once the cornerstone is set. The ELCA will go down their slippery slope with the Episcopals and the UCC, straight to Unitarian Universalism and/or nihilism. Kyrie eleison. Come quickly Lord, avenge Your elect Amen! Maranatha!

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    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.


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