WordAlone
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WordAlone is a conservative Lutheran grassroots network of congregations and individuals within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. According to its website, WordAlone advocates reform and renewal of the church, representative governance, theological integrity, and freedom from a mandated historic episcopate.
The group began as an electronic-mail discussion group in 1996. Its members coalesced in opposition to changes in ELCA ordination practices that were required as part of the proposed Concordat of Agreement with The Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA). The changes would have required that new pastors be ordained only by bishops, reflecting the ECUSA's understanding of Apostolic Succession, as a pre-condition to the sharing of ministers between the two church bodies. Citing Article Seven of the Augsburg Confession, which declares it unnecessary "that human traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted by human beings be alike everywhere," the WordAlone network argued that the restrictions on ordination ran counter to traditional Lutheran understandings of the ministry.
Due to efforts from opponents such as WordAlone and other organizations, the Concordate of Agreement was eventually defeated. Buoyed by their success, the growing membership of WordAlone sponsored its first conference in 1999. By this time, the ELCA and ECUSA had developed a new version of the proposed fellowship agreement, this time dubbed Called to Common Mission. This time, the WordAlone network was unsuccessful in preventing its passage, which was approved by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 1999. In a small victory for WordAlone supporters, however, an amendment to church bylaws did allow for pastors, rather than bishops, to preside at ordinations in "unusual circumstances," a method that has been used seventeen times as of 2005. WordAlone has viewed these "unusual" ordinations as small victories, although they have provoked irritation from some in the ECUSA who see the practice as reflecting a lack of commitment to the Called to Common Mission agreement.
More recently, WordAlone has turned its attention to the issue of sexuality in the church. The ELCA has officially welcomed homosexuals within its congregations since 1991, but it has struggled in recent years over whether non-celibate homosexuals in stable relationships should be ordained as ministers, and whether ministers should be permitted to bless same-sex partnerships. Groups such as Lutherans Concerned/North America are presently advocating for greater strides toward full acceptance and equality for homosexuals, while groups such as WordAlone seek to reverse moves in this direction in favor of a more traditional understanding of sexuality and sexual orientation.
Among other campaigns, WordAlone seeks to pare back what it sees as a top-heavy administrative structure in the ELCA, returning much authority to congregations and freeing up funds for more aggressive mission work. As of 2005, approximately 215 congregations have officially joined the organization.
WordAlone also started a body called Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), which is now legally and organizationally separate from WordAlone, though the two cooperate closely. LCMC seeks to provide organizational resources for congregations that are dissatisfied with the ELCA leadership. Churches that join may either remain members of the ELCA or other Lutheran denominations, or may sever such ties and claim the LCMC as their only denominational affiliation. The LCMC describes itself as a "centrist" Lutheran organization, and supports the ordination of women. In keeping with its emphasis on congregational authority, the LCMC rarely makes statements on social or theological issues, although it has issued an "admonition" that sexual activity take place "only within the boundaries of marriage between one man and one woman." In that sense, the LCMC is more conservative than the ELCA leadership, but as with WordAlone, many of its critiques of the ELCA are rooted in organizational rather than purely social disagreements.
[edit] See also
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Lutherans Concerned/North America
- Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
