The world’s largest Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) church has officially left the denomination. On July 13, The Synod Council of the Southeastern Iowa Synod voted to remove the Lutheran Church of Hope, West Des Moines, from its membership rolls.
On paper, the Synod is dropping them over a disagreement with their pastoral staff. The multisite mega-church, under the leadership of Rev. Mike Housholder, has seven pastors on staff “who are not on the roster of the ELCA or any of its full communion partners, which conflicts with the ELCA constitution.”
This, apparently, is far more offensive than the actions of these ELCA characters:
ELCA Praises and Platforms Lutheran Pastrix Who Attended Pride Parade in the Nude
ELCA Publishes Book For Teens Saying Porn Can Be ‘silly fun’ and ‘safe way to explore your sexuality’
ELCA Releases Hilariously Woke DEI Recommendations For their Denomination
ELCA Publishes Book Encouraging ‘Queer Children’ to Ignore and ‘Limit Contact’ with Non-Affirming Parents
Former Leader of ELCA Goes Off On Jesus in Sermon, Calling Him ‘Mean’, Troubling, and Even a Little Racist
ELCA Church Recites Blasphemous ‘Sparkle Creed’ + ‘I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural’
Yet in a letter sent to the church family, LCOH has a different take, insisting these pastors are badly needed and are more than qualified, refusing the purge them for the sake of remaining.
The candidacy and call process for pastors, a point of tension between Hope and the ELCA for years, has reached a tipping point. The ELCA has a pastor shortage. As a result, on occasion and out of necessity, Hope’s search for new pastors to serve our rapidly growing congregation has included some who were ordained in non-ELCA denominations. All of these pastors earned a Master of Divinity or higher degree, fulfilled other traditional requirements for Lutheran ordination, and expressed interest in becoming ELCA pastors. However, due to resistance from ELCA synod candidacy committees and the high cost of up to two extra years of required (and often redundant) post-M.Div. classes, they opted out.
We doubt that’s the real reason, however. Because the church is so large, it can provide full-time employment, a living wage, benefits, actual children running around, and a congregation whose median age isn’t 73, something smaller churches rarely have or can do. This makes jobs from Hope Lutheran highly coveted in ELCA circles.
Instead, while this church is in no way conservative, with even their parting remarks wishing a blessing on the ELCA, this congregation is technically non-affirming and will not perform ‘same-sex ‘weddings,’ putting them at direct odds with the rest of the LGBTQ-obsessed demoniacs.
Two years ago, the ELCA passed a resolution pledging to reexamine a 2009 decision that allowed both conservative and liberal views on homosexuality to be held by pastors, setting up the circumstances that will make it impossible for any remnant conservative pastors to remain.
Whereas at present, each church is free to operate according to its conscience, revising the statement would take away this freedom and make it so that only pro-sodomy pastors would be allowed to lead.
Hope Lutheran likely wanted out, and the pastoral issues were all a smokescreen and convenient excuse to bolt.
