Editor’s Note: The author is writing about the outlandishness of the 1994 draft.  It promoted same sex relationships and masturbation.  And it was released to the press before it was released to ELCA pastors which caused an enormous uproar. 

Several of us on the current board of Lutheran CORE have been tasked with sharing where we are in our journey in or out of the ELCA. 

It was the early 1980’s and my then first pastoral “boss” (I was his associate) and mentor used to say things like, “In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., everyone has a puke point. You’ll know it when you reach it.”  He often said graphic things like that such as, “Stay somewhere long enough and you can outlast your bastards” and “The milk of human kindness flows sparingly in the church.”  Wow, burned out much?  Please Lord, don’t let me get that hopeless.  A newly ordained still aglow with the infused idealism of stepping into the role I was wondering if I’d make a mistake learning from him.  But (and you knew that was coming) in some ways the years proved him correct.  Stay somewhere long enough that you form deep, abiding relationships with your members and it’s amazing what you can accomplish together.  Leaders shape culture and over time the character and competence of the Pastor will inform the priorities of a congregation’s mission and ministry.  People who don’t like the direction will drift out, sometimes with all the finesse of a toddler’s tantrum, but they’ll go. Hint: you know you’ve achieved that when you want to weep at members’ funerals because you’re now burying friends and not just people who called you to the role. That’s an important dynamic for this article, deep connections versus doing what’s right.  Relationship while feeling the tug of responsibility.

As per the “Puke Point” teaching that was harder to nail down.  In sitting down to write this tome I searched in vain about the internet’s nooks and crannies to substantiate the quote, but I couldn’t, but the notion is something I carried for years.  I didn’t reach that point when the 1994 draft on human sexuality was released.  While most reacted strongly to the call on the church to recognize same sex unions, something that started rattling around in the ELCA since its inception in 1988 so no surprise there, I noted that our confirmation instruction should now include the positive aspects of masturbation.  Where did that come from and why the sudden interest in budding adolescent sexuality? When the church started paying for abortions one exiting pastor wrote his Suma, “Real churches don’t kill babies.”   During my brief stint as an assistant to the bishop of Sierra Pacific Synod an openly gay pastor was called to be chaplain at UC Berkeley and several churches in Oakland held joint youth group activities with an openly gay seminarian leading. That should have been my early clue. Like a magician’s sleight of hand, adult relationships were waved in front of us but in my opinion the real target was children.

At the June 2018 national ELCA Youth Gathering a chemically and surgically mutilated child was paraded across the stage as an inspirational symbol of acceptance.  Adults who make such decisions are one thing.  I think they need therapy and not surgery, but that’s on them.  A child, one whose prefrontal cortex was not yet fully developed, was subjected to irreversible medical procedures and revealed as blessed by God. I was done.  I’d finally reached that unverifiable quote point. Six months later I announced my early retirement.  Relationships kept me in, but a quad bypass and the potential stress of taking out the entire congregation wasn’t something I could do, although much to his credit, my replacement soon had them out the door.  This is a short article, and the full story is more nuanced, but such is my journey.  I know you have your own.  May you find community and peace of Christ outside the ELCA.

Editor’s Note: Lutheran CORE is collecting and possibly publishing stories from our readers and congregations about the process they followed when they tried to exit the ELCA — successfully or not — including any abuse by church authorities towards their congregation. This article by Dr. Brian Hughes, Lutheran CORE Board Vice-President, is the first in our new Escaping Egypt series.

He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” Matthew 12:48-49

Hi. My name is Brian and I’m an ACOA. I’ve had friends in ministry question why it took so long for me to finally exit the ELCA and roster with another church body, a fair question and one that needs to get lifted for those who are still inside. Make no mistake, as our director Dennis Nelson has begun to warn, the doors are likely to slam shut next August at the national ELCA Assembly.  So why are you and your congregation still inside, especially if you’re a moderate, grace filled compassionate confessional Lutheran?

 So why DID I hang on so long? I served as Assistant to the Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod in the early 2000s when the advocates came after me, tried to destroy my career because I was merely a moderate and not a champion for their movement of change.  As I like to say, I didn’t know what the words slander, libel and defamation meant, but my attorney wife did. I left that call, moved to the other side of the country (Maryland) and helped continue building out a prevailing ministry, but still in the ELCA until finally retiring early and leaving January 2020.

Welcome to the world of ACOA (adult children of alcoholics).  We give prodigious loyalty long after it’s not warranted or deserved.  We’re hard wired to hang in there no matter how bad it gets.  We also tend to overachieve and become Type A personalities which can lead to other issues like stress induced cardiac problems.  Someday ask me about the heart attack I had underwater while on a shipwreck. It’s a great story.  It helps to explain why some of us aging confessional Lutherans hung on despite all we experienced, all we observed, all we came to understand about the trajectory of the ELCA. Undeserved loyalty.

Like many of his generation, my dad never talked about his experiences in WWII.  Later in life I came to know he was a medic in the European Theater and, through education and pastorally interacting with middle east deployed veterans, I have come to understand the impact PTSD has on them. I can only imagine the horrors my dad witnessed during his generation’s war, but as a child I didn’t understand why he drank so much, physically abused our mom and yelled at me and my sister.  With these ingredients properly measured and poured into the cauldron of development an ACOA was formed.

So brothers and sisters still inside, why are you still there and what are your hopes going forward?  My moment of decision to go was when, in 2018, the ELCA at their national youth gathering put a chemically and surgically mutilated child on stage and celebrated God’s handiwork in creating a trans child. And at that moment it was clear they were not my brothers and sisters and likely not disciples of Jesus either. The pull of loyalty was broken.  How about you?

In the January 2022 issue of CORE Voice and the February 2022 letter from the director I had a two-part article entitled, “How Did It Happen?”, in which I explained how groups such as ReconcilingWorks have made use of the principles of community organizing so that they have been able to completely take over the ELCA with their LGBTQ+ values, priorities, and agenda.  A link to the article in the newsletter can be found here.  A link to the letter from the director can be found here. 

At the end of the second part I described the need for resources for parents, church leaders, and LGBTQ+ identified persons which are Biblically sound, scientifically based, and compassionate in their approach to matters pertaining to same-sex attraction and gender identity, and more broadly relating to sexuality and gender.   

Next month – June – the LGBTQ+ community will be celebrating Pride Month.  In anticipation of that event Lutheran CORE has gathered a list of resources that will provide Biblically sound and compassionate answers to such questions as, “What do I do if I am gay?” and “What should I do now that my child or friend has come out as gay?” 

We began the task of developing this list with the clear understanding that the Bible does not allow for same-sex sexual activity and/or misrepresenting one’s biological sex.  No resource that takes an LGBTQ+ affirming point of view would be included unless in that resource the LGBTQ+ affirming point of view is in dialogue with the traditional point of view regarding sexuality.

The goal in providing this list is to reach LGBTQ+ persons for Christ, to acknowledge their struggles with same-sex attraction and/or gender dysphoria, and to help them find a healthy way forward and assist them in their efforts to live biblically.

We do not believe that the Bible promises that same-sex attraction and/or gender dysphoria will disappear if only we will _____.   Rather we are reminded of how God did not remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh (whatever it might have been) in spite of his fervent prayers (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10), and we understand that the Christian life – this side of heaven – is a constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit, as Paul describes in Romans 7.  

The goal is to help same-sex attracted persons live according to a Biblical sexual ethic.  We acknowledge that some will choose to live a celibate life.  Some will marry a person of the opposite sex even though they still struggle with same-sex attractions. 

When working with transgender identified persons, regardless of the initial stance taken on identity markers, the end goal is to help them accept their biological sex. 

We commend these resources to you, and we pray that they will help all of us live in the spirit of what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans –

“I appeal to you, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  (Romans 12: 1-2)

Monday, December 11, 2017 Devotion

“Hear my cry, O God; give heed to my prayer.  From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”  (Psalm 61:1-2)

This life is filled with difficulty, trials and travail.  We each reach the end of ourselves and in those moments of lament cry out.  The Lord knows what we shall say and do.  The Lord knows what we think.  In Him is the only refuge there is.  In Him alone is the hope of all ages.  Come into the presence of the Lord and know the comfort of the One who made all things.

Lord in You alone can we hope.  Come and meddle in my life.  No, take my life that I may be wholly thine and as You made me to be.  Guide me in the eternal wisdom of the ages You have revealed that in You I may find all I need to persevere in this age of rebellion.  Guide me, O Lord, in the way I should go that in You my hope and my life would unfold.  Lead me to the rock of my salvation.

Rock of salvation, Jesus, the Ebenezer of us all, grant that in every time of trouble I would stand on You, the rock of my salvation.  Keep me from the wiles of the wicked one and help me see more clearly that You have come to lead us through the fog of this age to become like You, the willing, obedient child of the Heavenly Father.  In every place and time, may I be found in You Jesus.  Amen.