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It
was formed in 1993 to work with openly
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender seminarians who are preparing for
professional vocations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA).
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What is
goodsoil.org all about?
goodsoil.org is the official website of the
collaboration to overcome the policy and practice of
discrimination within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) against lgbt clergy, same-sex marriages and
covenanted relationships.
It's About
Transformation: Throughout all of goodsoil's
efforts before and during the 2005 Churchwide Assembly, our
primary concern is the transformation of all who
participate. We are children of God, loved as we are,
committed to justice in the name of Christ. We act with
integrity and authenticity, proclaiming our message of
freedom in Christ with boldness, experiencing the power
within that will manifest itself wherever we are through
whatever we do, the power graciously given us by the God who
loves us unconditionally.
It's About Evangelism and Revival:
Our goodsoil work is one that proclaims our wholeness
and develops power for the work of justice. Our outreach is
to all, inviting the coming together and sharing of our
lives as children of a loving God.
-- We invite glbt clergy held captive
by their fear to leave the dark of their closets. We commit
ourselves to active support of these sisters and brothers
and to all who step out of their closets.
-- We proactively give witness at ELCA
meetings at synodical and churchwide levels and develop
personal contacts with voting members and church-wide
leadership.
-- We intentionally align ourselves
with the justice-seeking efforts of youth, young adults and
persons of color in the ELCA and invite them to become
actively involved in our work and leadership.
It's About Shining a Light on
Injustice: As we carry out our witness and
proclamation we boldly expose the untruths and lack of
integrity demonstrated by ELCA leaders and imbedded in
ecclesiastical structures and procedures. We do not ignore
or deny the injustice implicit in the ELCA's carrying on of
business as usual. We encourage our g/l/b/t/ colleagues to
step away from participating in the activities that
implicitly perpetuate the spiritual violence done to their
g/l/b/t sisters and brothers.
It's About Pastoral Care:
We recognize the spiritual violence done to g/l/b/t
persons and the pain experienced by many who work for
justice in the ELCA. We also acknowledge the distress of
many who struggle to hold on to the beliefs that hold them
captive. We provide places and opportunities for healing at
all CWA meetings. We invite the ECP roster to take
leadership in this work. |
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LLGM empowers openly identified sexual minority people
called to God's mission of ministry and witness.
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Who
We Are... |
| Founded in 1990,
Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM) is a
national mission society that supports openly identified
sexual minority pastors, seminarians and lay ministers who
have been discriminated against because of their sexual
orientation. 150 years ago, the mission societies of Europe
raised money to send pastors to serve the immigrant
populations on the American frontier, because the state
churches of Europe refused to do so. Today, Lutheran Lesbian
& Gay Ministries (LLGM) is doing the same for sexual
minority pastors, because of the "refusal" policies of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). In the decade
and a half since our founding, LLGM's donors have provided
hundreds of thousands of dollars in support of congregations
and ministries who call sexual minority pastors. |
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We are an independent membership organization, supported
entirely by
donations and member contributions. We include members
of all Lutheran affiliations as well as other Christian
denominations.
As a people who believe in God, we all
have spiritual needs. If you understand yourself to be a
sexual minority, you want to be a Christian without having
to hide who you really are, but also find your Christian
values are not always accepted in the gay community. If you
are heterosexual, your experiences may have shown that some
people you love have gone through great pain because of who
they are in relation to the church.
We are all wonderfully created in the
image our God. Regardless of our sexual orientation, we are
all part of the full spectrum of God's human creation, a
rainbow of diversity. Sexuality is a gift from our creator,
not a choice we consciously make. Rather, a choice is the
decision of how we express who we are.
As Christians we believe we are empowered
to be a model of the Gospel, loving our fellow human beings
and promoting justice for all. All too often, churches have
used scripture to condemn people for many things including
their God-given nature. Even Lutheran churches, which
emphasize grace, have been quick to judge.
Lutherans Concerned helps people reconcile
their spirituality and sexuality in an uplifting way. We
seek to minister to people who the institutional church
often shuns. We also seek to lead the church to live the
Gospel to the fullest, affirming sexual diversity, as we all
grow in faith and understanding of God's grace. |
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Mission Statement
Empowered by the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, the mission of the
Lutheran Human Relations Association is
to bring people together to do justice by:
| Breaking down hostilities and fears between
peoples; Bridging the racial, cultural, gender, age,
ability, class and other separations in our society;
and Building up the human community. |
LHRA is committed to
bringing people together to change hearts and build up the
body of Christ in the midst of a divided world. We
especially help people examine the personal and cultural
mindsets that we are locked into which keep us from
analyzing and working to change our institutions.
LHRA is national and
beyond in scope, pan-Lutheran, ecumenical and seeking
interfaith acceptance and understanding for all.
The staff and board
members include women and men, clergy and lay, gay and
straight, youthful and mature from God’s colorful array of
diverse human creation. |
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The
Naming Project is a faith-based youth group serving
youth of all sexual and gender identities. The primary focus is to
provide a place for youth who are gay/lesbian/bisexual/ transgender/
queer/questioning to learn, grow, and share their experiences. In
this way The Naming Project is a space in which youth can
comfortably discuss faith and who they understand themselves to
be--whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender...or straight.
The Naming Project is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a
mission and outreach of Bethany Lutheran Church in the Seward
neighborhood. However, The Naming Project reaches out to youth
across the United States through its programs. |
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The
Lutheran Network
for
Inclusive Vision
Our Purpose:
The NETWORK provides a public roster of church leaders committed
to witness to the inclusive Gospel of Jesus Christ by fostering the
full inclusion of sexual minorities (i.e. persons who are lesbian,
gay, bi-sexual, or trans-gendered) in the congregational life and
ordained ministry of the ELCA.
Who Are We?
As with most organizations, The NETWORK began as a small group of
individuals who were committed to the ideal expressed in our Purpose
Statement. Since that original group of ten persons, The NETWORK has
grown to over 1200 rostered members.
NETWORK members are church members, bishops, lay professionals,
seminarians, diaconal ministers, deaconesses, AIMS, professors, and
pastors - fathers and mothers, spouses and siblings - who believe it
is time publicly to register their opposition to the continual
expulsions and forced resignations of ELCA pastors who are openly
gay or lesbian. Names of NETWORK members are listed on a public
roster, which is shared with ELCA officials and displayed on banners
at services of worship and special functions.
We come together as ELCA church leaders who want to move from
quiet questioning of our church's policies on sexuality to public
advocacy for change.
We publicly challenge the ELCA:
- To promote an environment open to honest and faithful
discussion as together we seek greater clarity under God
concerning issues surrounding sexuality;
- To affirm committed and faithful same-sex relationships with
appropriate ecclesial liturgies and provide pastoral care for
gay and lesbian people as for all other members of the ELCA;
- To change the current guidelines in "Vision and
Expectations" and "Definitions and Guidelines for Discipline"
which discriminate against gay and lesbian clergy, AIMs and
seminarians;
- To accept qualified women and men - regardless of sexual
orientation - as pastors and professionals of this church and as
candidates for ministry within it;
- To seek justice for victims of sexual orientation
discrimination within the church and to support those who
provide care for these victims and advocate on their behalf.
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The story of a woman, a congregation and an issue that has divided a
nation. It follows the Rev. Anita C. Hill
and her congregation at St. Paul-Reformation
Lutheran Church from their decision to commit
"ecclesiastical disobedience" by ordaining Anita,
through the decisions made at the ELCA
Churchwide Assembly. From the personal
stories of those involved to high-stakes political
maneuvering of a denomination, THIS obedience
provides insight into an historic series of
events that rocked the third largest Christian
denomination in the United States. |
