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Hope Springs Eternal
Abstract: A new attack on CCM from Word Alone.
Maybe they're just optimistic after all these years or maybe they're upset at the prospect of yet another churchwide assembly considering the role of gay and lesbian pastors in the ELCA, but whatever the reason, Word Alone, in an article by board member Prof. Mary Jane Haemig (pictured), is encouraging synod assemblies to memorialize churchwide to repeal the eight-year-old Call to Common Mission (CCM) agreement between the ELCA and the Episcopal Church.
Citing the decline in ELCA membership from 5.1 million to 4.9 million over the time the agreement has been in place, Word Alone would have us believe that CCM is a "mission strategy" that has "failed" and has cost the ELCA hundreds of thousands of dollars by requiring extra duties (and travel) of bishops.
The draft memorial Word Alone has published borrows shamelessly (and unconvincingly) from the LutheranConfessions.com resolution regarding the expense of disciplinary proceedings. Word Alone estimates that CCM costs about $50,000 per year. The ELCA spent about 3 times that amount this year in a single disciplinary hearing to remove a partnered gay pastor from the ELCA roster.
If they're serious about freeing up money for mission work, perhaps Word Alone should join the effort to de-prioritize the enforcement of the ELCA's celibacy requirement for gay and lesbian clergy.
