Before You Pack Your Bags and Leave

Given the recent actions taken within the denomination I serve, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), many have asked, “How can and why should a church remain a part of this denomination?” Similar questions have been and continued to be raised in my denomination of origin, the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America (PCUSA). As the cultural winds of change persist in blowing through one denomination and into the next, there are churches and individuals packing their bags and looking to leave for greener pastures. Some hope to create a smaller offshoot of their denomination. Others aim to find some other gathering of Christians that they can affiliate with.

At some point in the future, the church I pastor, Grace Lutheran may pursue a similar course of action--but not now. For as troubling as these recent decisions by our denomination are, I believe that the disunity of the church is just as grave a sin any other. Scripture attests and we affirm that there is one faith, one body, one holy, catholic (universal) church called into existence and sustained by God in Jesus Christ. The splintering of the church is the tragic legacy of our Protestant heritage.

Lutherans as well as other children of the Protestant Reformation would do well to remember that in our story Martin Luther never sought to leave the Roman Catholic Church. Even in the face of great abuses of power and huge differences in understandings of Scripture, Luther did not deem it his prerogative to leave the church. He believed God’s call for him was to keep talking and praying so as to be a means of reform from within. Ultimately, Luther didn’t end the conversation—the Catholic Church did.

Like Luther, we can’t give up on the conversation or the prayers for the branch of the church that we are a part of. Shopping around for another church is not a solution. It is a romantic notion to think that there is a more perfect church out there. Every one has its own share of problems.

In the end, where are you going to go? You can get away from the ugly reality of Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians but you cannot escape from the bride of Christ. She is often beautiful but she can be a whore. She is often unfaithful but she is forever betrothed to the one who has called her, to the one who will redeem her—the groom, Jesus Christ. As with any other marriage, divorce is never to be initiated or desired as an option but should come as a last and final resort.

 Prayer remains our greatest asset in these times. Pray unceasingly for our denomination, for our church and for the world we are called to serve. Let us also hold fast to the counsel of the very Scriptures we seek to honor and protect:

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

As for me and my house, as long as the ELCA affirms the right of individual congregations to be “bound by their conscience,” Grace will continue to operate in accordance with her convictions as to Scripture. When and if this freedom is in jeopardy from within the ELCA, we will regretfully consider other options. Until then I stand with my brother Martin Luther convinced that our best means of fostering change, of bringing reform, is from within.

Comments

[Bryan Burton]

Chris,
Ths Protestant spirit of schism is in the DNA of all Protestantism since the 16th century, not only towards the Roman Catholic Church but towards one another in the Protestant family of churches. There was hope at one time perhaps, when Calvin (the Reformed church leader) was willing to sign the Augsburg Confession (the Lutheran church confession of the 16th century). However, it has only accelerated, particularly with the rise of the free church movement in the USA and the internal upheavals within all the families of Protestantism. The Lord of the Church continues to pray John 17 and perhaps we may wake up and seek what the Lord prays for us all...a true and faithful unity around "Jesus is Lord"...particularly for us evangelicals I ask "Is it so hard to say evangelical and ecumenical in the same breath?" Just a thought...