Reconstituting the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

 

Reconstituting the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

I forget about it sometimes, but the ELCA’s three expressions of the Church are rather fascinating, and I think, beautiful. At root there is an assumption that no matter whether it is the local, regional, or national church, each revolve around the same basic structure and pattern of life together. We gather for worship (and service of neighbor as able), holds announced meetings regularly (every six months, once a year, every three years, whatever) with all the folk who had gathered in worship, in order to make major decisions about our life together, elect people to oversee that work until the next meeting, and then those elected folk organize themselves to do the tasks the whole body agreed to do.

This happens most obviously, as least to my eyes, on the congregational level; but ideally Synod Assemblies and Churchwide Assemblies flow in this same way. Sometimes Synod and Churchwide Assemblies can feel more political, and like you’re a representative of particular interests, instead of a member of a worshipping community, but at their heart those assemblies are nothing more than congregations that happen to be at an event center and meet for multiple days.

              There is currently some buzz going into this upcoming Churchwide Assembly around rethinking the ELCA’s constitution. The ELCA was formed in 1988; the merger of three Lutheran Denominations that each had their own understanding of Church and ways of doing things. After intense negotiations these three church bodies dissolved themselves and became something new. Aside from the three expressions of the ELCA mentioned above, some major differences between the three previous denominations were left unresolved in our constitution. There was an assumption that we would “live into it” and that the very worshipful and practical way these three expressions function would deal with the differences over time. And, I think, to some extent they have, but a lot has changed in the world and in the church in the last 34 years. The sun belt has grown, the rust belt has shrunk, the internet exists, and the Soviet Union has fallen; the ELCA has contracted numerically, we’ve finally decided what to do with seminary trained non-ordained folk (now we ordain them and call them Deacons), and the two feuding Pennsylvania seminaries have merged. So, it might be time to reconstitute the ELCA to better fit our present reality.

              What follows are a few thoughts and reconfigurations that are rattling around in my head, and I feel might be grist for our dreams and visions as a denomination.

 

Some Thoughts on Language: What are Congregations?

              So, one of the awkward things about the ELCA is that we have organizations called SAWCs, Synodically Authorized Worshipping Communities, and we have Congregations. Often times SAWCs are seen as second-class congregations, since the goal of the SAWC is to transition into an ELCA congregation. SAWCs are sometimes served by Pastors who are called irregularly, and their purse strings are held by larger forces than their own.

But, SAWCs acknowledge, in their name, that the primary focus is Worship and Community, which is the way the ELCA’s constitution describes a congregation. What if all expressions of the church in the ELCA were described as Worshipping Communities? Congregations would be Locally Authorized Worshipping Communities, the Synods would be a Regionally Authorized Worshipping Community, and Churchwide would be the Nationally Authorized Worshipping Community.

 

What about Service?:

              But wait, one of the other actions done by Church in the ELCA constitution is that we not only worship, but we also serve. What if we created a second type of community, Authorized Service Communities? These could be spaces where Deacons are especially called to practice their ordination to the roster of Word and Service.

In fact, what might happen if we work to re-designate a third of ELCA congregations as Local Authorized Service Communities? What if we also offer a smooth path for Pastors to transfer from the roster of Word and Sacrament to the roster of Word and Service? How might that shift our mission as a denomination and put to rest the idea that the ELCA “doesn’t know what to do with Deacons.”

 

Decenter the National Church:

              In the last few years, we’ve been forced to admit that it is zoom’s world now, we all just live in it. People can work from anywhere. As such, what if we moved the national church into the 7 seminaries?

What if each seminary houses a specialized unit of the national church? For example, what if the seminary in Chicago houses our International Mission arm, since it boasts an exemplary international airport? What if Luther in Minneapolis houses our publishing and communications arm, since it is close to Augsburg? United Lutheran could house the experts on urban and rural ministry on their respective urban and rural campuses. This would make the national church a tad more accessible, shielding it from common criticisms that always begin “Higgins Road” (the street the national church is located on). It would also connect the national church with fire-in-their-belly seminarians and connect the seminarians with those who the seminarians see as being “in the room where it happens.”

 

A Few Statistics:

The ELCA currently is made up of:

7 Seminaries,

89 Camps,

180 College Campus Ministries,

285 Lutheran Health and Human Service Organizations,

and 8,900 congregations.

 

Synod Reorg Idea 1: Every Camp a Cathedral:

              One of the most common ways people stay connected with the ELCA through their teenage years and into young adulthood is via camp. The ELCA wants to grow young. Well, camp is one of the places where our young are growing.  Additionally, the ELCA has some pretty solid commitments to good ecological practices and care of creation. A way to care more deeply for young people’s faith lives and refresh our ecological chops, would be to center the Regionally Authorized Worshipping Community at Lutheran Camps.

There are 89 ELCA camps and approximately 8,900 ELCA congregations. In this reforming of the ELCA, instead of 65 Synods, there would be 89 Regionally Authorized Worshipping Communities (RAWC).

Each RAWC would be in relationship with:

- 100 Congregations

- 3 Lutheran Health and Human Service Organizations

- 2 Campus ministries

 

Synod Reorg Idea 2: The 300, Think Locally, Think Interdependence, Think Deacons

              As I asked above, what if there were a bunch more Deacons and about 1/3 of present ELCA congregations became Local Authorized Service Communities? Additionally, it is worth noting the smallest Synod in the ELCA contains 30 congregations.

              In this reforming of the ELCA instead of 65 Synods there would be 300 Synods. Each Synod would be centered around 1 Campus Ministry or Camp and 1 Lutheran Health and Human Service Organizations. The Lutheran Health and Human Service Organizations would have a Synodical Deacon attached to it and the Campus Ministry or Camp would have a Bishop attached to it. Both would be elected every 4 to 6 years at an annual Synod Assembly.

              Instead of congregation, there would be triads, consisting of 1 Locally Authorized Service Community and 2 Locally Authorized Worshipping Communities. Each triad would be served by at least one Deacon and one Pastors.

              There would be 10 Triads (consisting of 30 communities) in each Synod.

              The Synodical Deacon would spend much of their time connecting the 10 LASCs to the Lutheran Health and Human Service Organization to which the Synodical Deacon is attached, and providing assistance and oversight for service work in the region. The Bishop would spend much of their time connecting the 20 LAWCs to the Camp or Campus Ministry to which they are attached.

              This sounds needlessly complicated, but here’s an example of what it might look like in practice:

              Synodical Deacon, Thomas Zimmerman, is connected to Lutheran Social Ministries of Wyoming. He serves as the liaison between the Service Communities in his region and Lutheran Social Ministries, finding ways how they can partner well with one another, and also finding ways to connect the 10 Service Communities with one another. Bishop Alice Carpenter is connected to Lutheran Campus Ministry of Beetlecreek College. She is in regular contact with 20 Worshipping Communities and their Pastors. She helps the communities in her region see themselves as partners with the Campus Ministry. Together they run call processes when Triads wish to call new Pastors and Deacons. They contact the National Authorized Worshipping Community found at Southern Seminary, to get candidates, since the Candidacy process is run out of that seminary.

              Pastors Becky and Deacon Hellen serve a Triad of St. Paul’s Worshipping Community and Grace Worshipping Community, as well as a Homeless Shelter called Grace Place, which is run out of Grace Worshipping Community’s old parsonage. Deacon Hellen’s focus is running Grace Place and Pastor Becky’s focus is on St. Paul and Grace. Most of the time Pastor Becky leads worship at both Worshipping Communities, but in the summer months both St. Paul and Grace choose to change their worship time to 8:30am, so Deacon Hellen and Pastor Becky alternate between congregations. Members of both Grace and St. Paul’s support Grace Place financially and with ongoing in-kind donations.

Deacon Hellen is in regular contact with Synodical Deacon Thomas and connects guests from Grace Place with Lutheran Social Ministry. Bishop Alice recently invited students from Lutheran Campus Ministry to worship at Grace Worshipping Community; afterwards they helped power washed Grace Place’s siding and shared a meal with the families there.

 

Reconstituting the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 34 years from now

              Again, I hope this is grist for the mill, as we dream about the next 34 years. Then perhaps the ELCA will need to reconstitute again, because we have just established the first Worshipping Community on the moon, the ELCA is known for our Deacons, we’ve established ecumenical relationships with not 6 Full Communion Partners, but 16, and each of our seminaries are known as hubs of innovation.