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Congregation takes step to rejoin ELCA

Earlier this year, two congregations expelled from the ELCA in the 1990s for welcoming gay pastors, received an invitation to rejoin the denomination.

One of those congregations — St. Francis Lutheran Church in San Francisco — voted 69-1 this week to begin the process, according to the head of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, or ELM.

The other congregation is First United Lutheran Church, also in San Franciso. Both congregations are in the boundaries of the Sierra Pacific Synod.

“These two congregations issued calls to openly gay and lesbian pastors in 1990, beginning a chain of events that led the ELCA to where it is today,” Amalia Vagts, ELM executive director, said in a statement posted on the organization’s website.

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Seven LBGT pastors were received or reinstated into the ELCA on Sunday. Last summer, voting members of the ELCA national assembly decided to lift a ban prohibiting partnered gays and lesbians from serving in ministry.

Vagts said the vote at St. Francis doesn’t mean the congregation will rejoin the ELCA, but that it will begin the process. The synod is led by Bishop Mark Holmerud.

“St. Francis was voting on whether or not to accept the invitation of the Sierra Pacific Synod to restore its relationship with the ELCA,” Vagts wrote.

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