By Alan Waite
Resolving to "claim the future for a new generation," over 1500 Lutherans officially established the WordAlone Network as a counterweight to the ELCA's imposition of the historic Episcopate during a March 26-29 gathering at St Andrew's Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, Minnesota.
Participants vowed to pursue an aggressive agenda for church reform, and for resistance to historic Episcopate (HE) mandates within the LutheranEpiscopal Agreement, "Called to Common Mission" (CCM).
The four-day convention brought together several hundred ELCA clergy and nearly one thousand lay members from 30 different states, and included 13 seminary professors, three bishops, former Minnesota Governor Albert Quie, and former ALC Presiding Bishop Dr. David Preus.
Attendees adopted by-laws, elected a national board of directors, decided on activist and educational strategies, and agreed to ordain seminarians who refuse to accept the hE. They also endorsed and forwarded to the ELCA Church Council a compromise proposal, drafted by supporters and opponents of the CCM in Milwaukee six weeks earlier, dubbed the "Common Ground Resolution."
Amidst traditional hymns and raucous blues and gospel music, the convention worshiped, prayed, shared, and organized. Absent was any prevailing sense of anger or resentment. "It was an incredibly uplifting experience and clearly lay-centered," remarked closing worship leader Rev. Mark Chavez, Zion Lutheran, East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, "The spirit was infectious, positive, and reforming. It only reaffirms what we all knew: the grass roots of our Church are staunchly against the CCM."
Dr. Preus opened the gathering by relaying how our "Lutheran family" came to such "a radical departure from Lutheran doctrine" in agreeing to accept the historic Episcopate (hE). He described an evolving theological shift in American Lutheranism leading up to the 1987 merger, and the radical theological tenets held by many of the Lutheran activists who shaped the formation ofthe ELCA. Preus suggested that the ELCA's leadership continue to be out-of-touch with mainstream Lutheranism.
Lay leader, Gov. Albert Quie likened the historic episcopate to another, contemporary controversy, "It is the same sign to us that a Confederate flag is to African Americans."
Dr. James Nestigen, Professor of Church History Luther Seminary, argued that ELCA leadership is undermining core Lutheran teachings through coercive imposition of the HE. "The freedom of the Gospel is lost when coercion is used," he said, . . . this is supposed to be a merged church, but to a whole lot of us it looks like a hostile take 0ver . . . this leadership has taken on the feeling of betrayal."
The convention received reports on a variety of different topics ranging from the theological flaws of the CCM to the more fundamental issues of electing non-hE bishops, clergy pensions, retaining church property should a schism occur, and redirecting benevolences.
In a poignant moment, over a dozen seminarians received a standing ovation from the capacity convention crowd when asked to stand and be recognized. "We know what you are risking," convention chairman Rev. Roger Eigenfeld told them, "and your courage to resist inspires us all."
Eigenfeld, unanimously elected by the new board as WordAlone's first president, summed up the event in words reminiscent of an earlier Lutheran resistance movement, "We will resist with love, but we will resist. We aren't going to leave. We want to stay, we might get kicked out, but here we stand."
Alan Waite, assoc. editor of FOCl POINT, is a member of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Sacramento, CA. He attended the March 2000 WordAlone Network founding convention in Mahtomedi, Minn.