3 Lutheran Groups Vote to Merge Into Larger Church

Three Lutheran denominations voted overwhelmingly today to merge into the nation’s fourth-largest Protestant church, their leaders said.

The new church of 5.3 million members will be formed out of the Lutheran Church of America, the American Lutheran Church and the Assn. of Evangelical Lutheran Churches. It will be known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The announcement of the merger was supposed to be made via a telephone hookup linking Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago, where the three Lutheran groups were meeting. But the hookup failed, and while the Lutheran convention was waiting in Milwaukee, a defrocked minister took the stage to hector the 676 delegates.

Daniel Solberg was formerly a pastor in Clairton, Pa. He became an activist on behalf of laid-off steelworkers and served a jail term for contempt of court for not leaving his church after he was removed as pastor. His microphone was quickly turned off, and Presiding Bishop James R. Crumley Jr. abruptly recessed the meeting.

But at a news conference that followed, it was announced that the merger had been approved with no more than 5% of any of the church conventions voting against it.

Earlier in the day, Chicago was designated as headquarters of the new church.

The new church has not cleared its final hurdle. The Lutheran Church of America must approve the merger at a special convention, and the American Lutheran Church must put the proposal to a vote by its 4,900 congregations. Two-thirds must approve.

A constituting convention is scheduled for next spring in Columbus, Ohio, with the church to be born on Jan. 1, 1988.