Lutherans Vote to Remain in 2 Councils of Churches

“Mainline” religion scored a victory Friday when the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted decisively to remain inside two heavily criticized ecumenical bodies.

Only scattered opposition arose among delegates to the 5.2-million-member denomination’s first Churchwide Assembly here as the ELCA voted to maintain its ties with both the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.

The membership vote was viewed as a crucial test for the ecumenical movement at a time when organizations like the NCC and WCC--supported mostly by liberal mainline denominations that have lost membership in recent years. The most frequent charge has been that those organizations have promoted social activism at the expense of soul winning--a charge the ecumenical community claims is based on an artificial and improper separation between social work and evangelization.

Only one of the three predecessor bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which began operations in January, 1988, belonged to both the National Council and World Council. The new church’s constituting convention in 1987 moved to keep the denomination in association with both councils until membership could be reviewed and voted on at this assembly.

Membership Backed

Top officials of both councils came here to encourage continued membership of the ELCA, the nation’s third-largest Protestant denomination according to current statistics. WCC General Secretary Emilio Castro and NCC President Patricia McClurg held three one-hour sessions on the second night of the Aug. 23-30 convention urging a continued Lutheran presence.

The World Council membership question sailed through a convention plenary session without any debate, with only a handful of the 1,000-plus delegates voting against continued participation in that body.

Membership in the National Council was debated for less than half an hour, with fewer than two dozen delegates voting against membership. The assembly also easily beat back a bid to delay the vote another two years.

A survey of select parishes reported earlier this year found nearly unanimous support for the World Council, while about 26 percent of the parishes opposed the National Council.

‘A Decent Burial’

Arguing against continued NCC membership, Elizabeth Eaton of Worthington, Ohio, said, “Perhaps now is the time to let the old form (of ecumenical ties) die. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a friend is to provide a decent burial.”

Bishop Lowell H. Mays of Madison, Wis. said he initially opposed NCC membership but changed his mind after the organizational restructuring was approved at the NCC Governing Board meeting in May.

The bishop said, “I think we have an incredible opportunity (to redirect the NCC), particularly with the sign ‘under new management’ hanging out front.”

Dues and related services in the WCC will cost the ELCA $761,700 this year, with $867,934 going to the NCC.

Worries Cast Pall

The ELCA is undergoing a financial crisis, having finished its first fiscal year $15.8 million in debt, and money worries seemed to cast a pall over the gathering here.

The church’s top official, Bishop Herbert W. Chilstrom, said, “The short- range picture for this church is one of painful adjustment and, in some cases, severe retrenchment because of a substantial shortfall in the resources we had expected from the congregations of this church.”

The red ink which flowed during the church’s first 14 months of operation, he said, washed out plans to build new churches and programs and dampened staff morale.

The fiscal outlook is gloomy for this year and next year as well, Chilstrom said. Church officials slashed the budget from $112 million in 1988 to $99 million this year and limited spending to 90% of the budgeted total. Next year’s budget is set at $102 million with spending restricted to 88% of that, he said.

The church has imposed a hiring freeze, cut travel, banned pay increases, slashed services and is preparing for staff layoffs.

“We are like a ship setting out into the deep,” Chilstrom said. “If we set the wrong course, even by a few degrees, it will mean that future assemblies will have to make major corrections.”