Staff report
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church will host a meeting of pastors and lay leaders from across the state this evening to discuss a response to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s vote earlier this year to allow openly gay people in committed relationships to serve as clergy.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Those present will hear a report on a meeting Sept. 25 and 26 in Indianapolis, Ind. of Lutheran CORE, a conservative Lutheran movement opposed to the national denomination’s decision.
The Rev. Bill Ketchie, St. Paul’s pastor and one of about 1,200 who attended the Indianapolis meeting, said they will also hear from the Rev. Bill Sullivan about Lutherans Congregations in Mission for Christ, an association of Lutheran churches that have split from the denomination.
Ketchie said Lutheran representatives from Lutheran churches in the N.C. Synod have been invited to tonight’s meeting.
“Some congregations will wish to leave,” Ketchie predicted. “Some will wish to leave quickly. Some will leave with some time, and some congregations will choose to stay and work within the ELCA.”
Organizers of the meeting “are not trying to encourage one way or another,” Ketchie said.
St. Paul’s has formed a committee to study issue, including whether the church should stay in the denomination or consider alternatives, he said. The congregation will vote once the committee’s work is complete.
“We’re not jumping at anything,” Ketchie said. “We love the ELCA and we love the North Carolina Synod. It just seems like the church has left us.”
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is at 205 St. Paul’s Church Road, off Old Concord Road.