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Is the ELCA Trying to Silence Pastors' 'Bound Conscience?'

9/20/2010

11 Comments

 
This March, Rev. Jason Cooper of Emanuel Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Strawberry Point, Iowa, gave a sermon on the topic of sexual immorality using scripture from the lectionary on 1 Corinthians 10.  (read here and listen here)

Toward the end of the service, a former church council president approached the microphone and voiced his disagreement with the message and claimed that Rev. Cooper had violated his "Letter of Call" for stating that the ELCA's new policies oppose God's directive in Scripture. (listen here - the last minute of the service)

This incident led to a meeting between Rev. Cooper, Northeast Iowa Synod Bishop Steven L. Ullestad and Assistant to the Bishop Mark Anderson.  Rev. Cooper explained that during the meeting Bishop Ullestad informed him that if the former church council president followed through with his claim against the pastor, Bishop Ullestad "would rule against me, that I had, in fact, violated my Letter of Call.  The only two things he specified, that I recall, was that I was a little too Catholic in my understanding of the .  .  . reason for sex.  The second thing was that he said I couldn't say that the ELCA had violated the will of God."

At a second meeting, Rev. Cooper said that Bishop Ullestad told him "You don't understand.  You could be in really serious trouble."  Rev. Cooper replied, "Do what you have to do . . . I stand by what I said."

Rev. Cooper went on to say that during the meeting there "really was a feeling that either I recant or I was done, at least from the synod's perspective."

To set the context, Rev. Cooper had been the pastor at Emanuel Lutheran for 6 years, and it was his first call.  The year prior to this incident, Rev. Cooper submitted his papers with the ELCA seeking a specific call, to which the bishop's office encouraged him to consider two or three other calls as well.  But Rev. Cooper did not feel God was calling him to any of those positions at the time.

In February of this year, Rev. Cooper again submitted his papers seeking a new call.  As of the first week of September, 2010, he has not received any profiles from any of the four ELCA synods to which he submitted his name, and none of the synods have talked with him.

According to Rev. Cooper, "When I asked the Bishop (Ullestad) flat out, 'Am I blacklisted?'  He said, 'Well, congregations don't want pastors who cause problems.'"

So let's look at Rev. Cooper's record.  Over the last 6 years, Emanuel Lutheran has met their expenses every year.  Their benevolence has been at least 10% to 20%.  They have seen an increase in worship attendance every year and received 40 new members in 2009, all in a town with a population of just over a 1000 people.

The only "problems" that Rev. Cooper can be accused of causing are that he took a public stand against the denomination's homosexuality policies and clearly stated that the ELCA is elevating their own view over the authority of Scripture.  Rev. Cooper believes this is why the ELCA has refused to work with him as he seeks to find a new call.

Based on Rev. Cooper's testimony, it seems clear that the denomination wants to deny pastors the freedom to express publicly their "bound conscience," if it does not line up with the ELCA's decisions.  It can further be understood that pastors are not to preach or teach anything other than what the ELCA social statement says.

With that in mind, pastors should remember that their responsibility is to faithfully live out his or her calling and the vows taken at ordination, most especially to teach and preach in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, the creeds and confessions.  We all are ultimately responsible to God and God alone.  

It is wrong for the ELCA or any denomination to prohibit or discourage pastors from teaching from the Word of God. It appears that the ELCA is trying to silence orthodox pastors, which should cause all of us to question the ELCA's motives and actions.

(Rev. Jason Cooper resigned from the ELCA, Sept. 2010)


11 Comments
James Young link
9/20/2010 11:55:47 am

This should surprise no one. Pastor Cooper is clearly a man of great faith and profound conscience. ELCA is clearly the wrong place for him.

Reply
Paul
9/20/2010 03:18:25 pm

hmmmm Pastor Coopers ministry is growing and blessed. Other ELCA churches are splitting and in turmoil. Seems to me Pastor Cooper has God's favor. Keep up the good work Pastor Cooper!

Reply
Dan Bakke
9/20/2010 04:01:08 pm

Hi,
I agree with Pastor Cooper. I am very disgusted with the vote that the ELCA did in 2009. Actually when Pastor Cooper became ordained in the ELCA, the ELCA was different then...so it is not Pastor Cooper that changed he is standing fast, it is the ELCA. They are the guilty ones. It is wrong for the ELCA to discourage pastors from preaching from the word of God. This in time will come back and bite the ELCA...just give it time! Thank You Pastor Cooper!
Sincerely,
Dan Bakke
Council Vice President, Trinity Lutheran Church,
Edinburg, ND

Reply
John Hertz
9/22/2010 03:34:09 pm

I am confused about this... Reading the social statement at http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/JTF-Human-Sexuality.aspx
it clearly states:
"This church recognizes that, with conviction and integrity:
• On the basis of conscience-bound belief, some are convinced
that same-gender sexual behavior is sinful, contrary to biblical
teaching and their understanding of natural law." This is on page 20 of the official ELCA statement.
I realize there are conflicting statements within that document but it was explained to us in this same document: “We further believe that this church, on the basis of 'the bound conscience,' will include these different understandings and practices within its life as it seeks to live out its mission and ministry in the world. “(page 19)
It is reasonable that if a minister speaks of homosexuality as a sin he or she is merely expressing an accepted opinion as outlined in the Sexuality Statement on page 20.
To deny a minister his ability to make a living because he expressed an opinion that an ELCA document clearly indicates is acceptable seems a violation of the minister’s rights and is contradictory to a written ELCA statement.
I am not a lawyer. Any lawyers care to comment? Am I misunderstanding this situation?

Reply
Larry
9/23/2010 11:12:34 am

The depth of hypocrisy in the ELCA is staggering!!!!!

Reply
Mark E. Chapman
9/23/2010 01:39:46 pm

It is for reasons like this and a long list of increasing abuses of Holy Scripture and the whole of Christian Tradition for 18 centuries (including but by no means exclusive to the Confessions) that I resigned from the ELCA clergy and the ELCA, and am now quite happy as a faithful layman in the very Bible-centered ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.

Reply
Janet Y Muldoon
9/24/2010 03:46:32 am

What I find so disturbing about this whole situation is how Jesus, the true Son of God, the Triune God, is being treated by the ELCA.

I am not a scholar of the Bible, but it is clear to me that Jesus came to save me from my sins. He was sinless, sent by God as a living example of how I should live and love. He did not come to abolish the laws of the Old Testament but to fullfill them and hold us all to even higher standards. On the subject of lust, He said, "don't even allow such thoughts to enter in your mind".

The acceptable sexual union, according to the Bible, is the union of a man and woman within marriage. Any other sexual behavior including thoughts is sin.

If one walks into a store and resists thoughts of theft, why cannot one be in the presence of the opposite or same sex and resist thoughts of engaging in sex.

Evil acts do not happen without first thinking about it. Even if one has been falsely taught or misled.

It is only by accepting and having faith in Jesus Christ that we are able to resist the devil and all his works. We all need to be supported by a Christian community that believes in Biblical truth lest we fall astray.

I own a wonderful little book called "What Jesus said about it" by Henry Koestline. It takes the Words of Jesus from all four gospels and applies His Word to many subjects including sin and judgement. For me it was very helpful to get a clear summary of what Jesus said and continues to say to all of us who want to be saved by Him.

In my opinion, the ELCA was taken over hostily by a sexually deviant secular subculture and its supporters. It has become simply another social service agency under the guise of Christianity.

My thoughts are what did the ELCAs action do to Jesus. the only true Savior of a fallen humanity?

I believe when a denomination pushes Jesus aside for secular opinion, it can no longer be considered a Christian denomination.

Reply
James Young
9/24/2010 01:44:42 pm

Careful, Janet: my (former) pastor immediately rebuked me when I dared use the "d" word when we tried to raise it in our (former) congregation.

Two months later, we left, and found a warm spiritual home with an LCMS congregation.

Reply
Mark Leonard
9/26/2010 05:00:23 pm

I retired as President of our ELCA congregation in Holstein last February after 6 very difficult months of trying to find ways to cope with the ELCA actions while keeping our congregation from splitting itself and going in many different direcitons. We have succeeded in avoiding a wholesale transfer of memberships only by hosting informaitonal forums for all members to attend, even though our Pastor and Church Council insisted those forums could not be on Church property. Those forums held offsite have encouraged the majority of our active memebers to "stay the course" and continue to worship outside of the exisitng ELCA frame work. This Sunday we had our first off site-alternative worship service for Lutherans with very surprising large attendance. Jason Cooper led our worship service for us and it was a most meaningful experience. Jason Cooper is a pious, conservative, and compassionate Pastor and we are very fortunate that he has agreed to provide Pastoral services for the Lutherans in Holstein while we take time to determine what path we need to take. If anybody ever wants to insult Jason, tell them they should talk to him instead of about him. They would come to like him and appreciate his sincere faith.

Reply
Perry Lund link
9/27/2010 08:17:35 am

I grew up on a farm between Galva and Holstein Iowa and know the people back there. Perhaps some of the former members of the ELCA church in Holstein could attend the LCMS church in Galva, only 7 miles to the east on highway D15.

Blessings.

Reply
Roger Haugen
9/28/2010 09:37:52 am

The words used to describe the "new" ELCA are not ones I've heard used to describe the Lutheran Church I grew up with. Disgusting, contradictory, and deviant are used to describe what has been written for us to align our faith with. It seems we must have our "Bound Conscience" aligned to a new, socially acceptable definition of sin and discard the OLD BIBLICAL definition of sin and God's law.
God bless you, Rev. Cooper. It will be interesting the see how many and how fast others follow you....and Luther.....and CHRIST!

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  • Home
  • ELCA Exposed News
    • on The Bible
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    • on Israel
    • on Abortion
    • on Social Media (ELCA Wolves Blog)
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  • Responses to ELCA
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