Lutherans Concerned/North America

Lutherans Concerned/North America is an organization of laypeople, pastors, and that are primarily from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada(ELCIC) who are working for the full acceptance and inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the Church. It is one of many LGBT-welcoming church movements to emerge in American Christianity in the late twentieth century.

Lutherans Concerned is part of a coalition of organizations working to change church policies regarding same-sex blessings and the ordination of non-celibate gay and lesbian pastors.

The organization was founded in 1974 to promote tolerance of gay and lesbian persons within the various North American Lutheran denominations.

Through its Reconciling in Christ program, the organization recognizes congregations and Lutheran organizations the declare themselves welcoming to all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

A January 2005 [http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/pdf/tfreport.pdf report] issued by the ELCA's Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality suggests that the group's stance represents a minority position within the ELCA, but one that garners a sizable constituency in support. After collecting opinions from primarily lay members in 2004, the Task Force concluded that "a majority of the respondents to the study do not wish to change our traditional position," while noting that "a significant minority wants us to either 1) bless same-sex unions and admit people in such unions into the rostered ministries of the ELCA or 2) allow for pastoral discretion in the blessing of same-sex unions and make an accommodation by allowing for some form of exception or local option to admit people in such unions to the rostered ministries of the ELCA." Out of approximately 4,000 respondents, 57 percent opposed blessing and rostering, 22.1 percent favored blessing and rostering, and 20.8 percent favored either an (unspecified) alternative, a delay in decision, or expressed no opinion. The results varied widely by age: younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to support blessing and rostering, with 42.7 percent in favor and 27 percent opposed among respondents 24 and under, and 17.7 percent in favor and 65.5 percent opposed among respondents age 65 or older.

ee also

*Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

External links

* [http://www.lcna.org/ Official website]
* [http://www.elm.org Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries]
* [http://www.goodsoil.org goodsoil.org]
* [http://www.stpaulref.org/wingspan.htm Wingspan Ministries]
* [http://www.inclusivenet.com/ The Network for Inclusive Vision]
* [http://www.lutheransconcerned.ca/ Lutherans Concerned in Canada]

Lutheran-stub