ELCA bishop seeks focus on unifying mission
Thursday, 17 December 2009 11:35
MILWAUKEE — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s new bishop of southeastern Wisconsin said he hopes to move beyond the sexuality debate roiling the denomination. The Rev. Jeff Barrow said he’ll focus instead on restoring a sense of Gospel mission and outreach to youth and minority communities.
Barrow’s election to head the Greater Milwaukee Synod comes at a time when the ELCA, like other protestant denominations, is embroiled in conflict over the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. In August, the denomination’s highest legislative body overturned a ban on noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy who are either in, or expecting to enter into, committed relationships.
In the wake of that decision, Lutheran CORE, a group of congregations within the ELCA, voted to begin work on establishing a new Lutheran church body for those who believe gays and lesbians are unacceptable for clerical service. But Barrow said he’ll seek to reunite local ELCA congregations by redirecting their energy toward the religious principals on which they agree.
“When you get embroiled in this controversy, you table things like world hunger and poverty and reaching out to people,” Barrow told WiG. “But you can go to hell a lot faster for neglecting the poor than you can for your views on sexuality.”
Barrow, 58, will be installed as bishop in March 2010. He currently serves as a senior pastor of Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Racine, which he described as a “welcoming” church with openly lesbian and gay congregants.
Although Barrow voted in favor of the Lutherans’ new gay-supportive policy, “I was called to be bishop by a synod that has divergent view points, and I intend to be bishop to all of them,” he said. “To me, it’s a matter of keeping people … speaking honestly and without hostility toward each other.”
The Milwaukee Synod has about 91,000 members. Barrow said he expects some area churches to eventually leave the ELCA over gay ordination.
Although the Lutheran rift has received widespread media attention, ELCA spokesman John Brooks said less than 1 percent of affiliated congregations have taken any official action toward leaving the church.
“We have pockets of controversy over this, but we also have pockets of great joy where people are really happy about what has occurred,” Brooks said. “Out of 10,400 congregations, 106 have taken votes to try to leave the ELCA … and two-thirds of them have failed to get the votes.”
The ELCA has 444,000 members in Wisconsin, which is approximately 10 percent of the denomination’s total worldwide membership. It’s the second largest religious body in the state, behind Roman Catholicism.
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