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A year ago, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America held a close and controversial vote that opened its doors to non-celibate gay clergy. Disappointed opponents predicted a fracture that would cause 1,000 congregations to withdraw.
A year later, the ELCA remains largely intact.
"That 1,000-congregation figure has proven to be wishful thinking on the part of those who wanted it to happen," said Larry Wohlrabe, Bishop of Minnesota's rural Northwestern Synod. "Our culture has changed on this."
The Rev. Mary Albing is a lesbian who unofficially served Minneapolis' Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer from 2003 until May when her bishop formally placed her in good standing. She believes the reaction to non-celibate gay clergy boils down to priorities.
"Gay people are not going to be the death knell of the ELCA," Albing said. "Lutherans care about other things much more."
Since the vote, only 199 congregations — 2 percent of the ELCA's roughly 10,300 congregations — have withdrawn. In Minnesota, home to more ELCA congregations than any state, only 24 of 1,143 congregations have left.
"I feel a sense of loss for those who felt they had to leave because I am welcome," said Anita Hill, a lesbian who is a pastor at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn. Hill defied her church's ban on gay clergy for eight years as her congregation endured sanctions and battled for change. "I never thought the inclusion of some required others to depart," she said.
While the church has avoided a major split, the decision to admit gay clergy has not been without cost. Nationally, the ELCA lost more than twice as many congregations in 2009 as in any year since 1987. Membership losses in 2009 were 90,000, an increase of 15,000 from 2008. Nationally, donations in 2009 were down 3 percent.
Meanwhile, plans for the new alternative North American Lutheran Church (NALC) were formed last week at a gathering in Ohio. The new church will prohibit sexually active gay clergy. While fewer than 10 congregations have committed to joining NALC, organizers say hundreds eventually will.
Despite the rancor about accepting gay clergy, few new gay ministers have come through the church's opened doors. In Minnesota, a survey of synod bishops revealed seven homosexual pastors who have sought acceptance since the new policy passed. All but two already served as pastors or chaplains without official recognition. One of the two not serving has moved to Georgia, leaving just one new gay pastor looking for a congregation.
Penny Edgell, a University of Minnesota sociologist who studies American religion, said fears of the ELCA collapsing under the weight of gay clergy decision were "overstated."
"What's happening to American Christian churches doesn't have much to do with these hot-button issues," Edgell said. "It has to do with demographics. Younger generations don't view these institutions the same way their parents did."
The Rev. Jon Anderson, Bishop of Minnesota's mostly rural, mostly conservative Southwestern Synod, agreed. Anderson's synod lost four of its 264 congregations in the past year and has four more in the process of leaving, a 3 percent defection rate. But six congregations voted down attempts to withdraw.
"For many of us," said Anderson, "Christ is the center of our church and not this issue."
Acceptance of gay clergy remains a matter of choice by individual congregations.
"If I hear from a church that they don't want gay clergy," said Rev. Tom Aitken, Bishop of Minnesota's Northeastern Synod, "I would tell a gay candidate, 'The congregation is clear that they don't want you.'"
Some congregations, such as Redeemer Lutheran in Fridley, Minn., saw no option but to leave after the vote.
Paul Lundequam, the church's board president, said members of his church believe gay pastors are at fundamental odds with their understanding of the Bible. Withdrawal was "an important statement we had to make," he said.
Some congregations that have left intend to keep supporting the ECLA's charitable efforts.
One is Calvary Lutheran, a 5,000-member mega-church in Golden Valley, Minn. Calvary will not affiliate with any other branch of Lutheranism. And it will continue to contribute roughly $100,000 a year to its favorite ELCA causes.
"Most of us don't want to see the ELCA fail or fall apart," congregation president Jeff Johnson said.
Other conservative Lutherans say the admission of gay clergy requires a severance of all ties to the main church. Marc Chavez directs CORE, a coalition that will form the NALC on Thursday. Chavez said that the gay clergy vote was "devastating for lay people." The NALC constitution specifies that "sexual activity belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a faithful marriage between one man and one woman."
In Minnesota's Southeast Synod, Bishop Harold Usgaard estimated that donations withheld by angry church members forced him to cut his budget by 5 percent. But the bulk of recent budget cuts, local and national church leaders said, resulted from the recession.
Opinions differ on when or if the ELCA will heal.
Hill, the lesbian minister who will undergo a formal service of reception in September, said, "I speculate that we're in the same place we were a few years ago with women's ordination."
Luther Seminary historian Mark Granquist disagreed. "Biologically, women can't help being women," he said. "The question here is whether homosexuality is a lifestyle."
As the debate continues, so does the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. On July 10, 300 people gathered at Central Lutheran in downtown Minneapolis to celebrate the vote to admit gay clergy. They marched across the street to the Minneapolis Convention Center where the vote took place last year. They prayed, Hill said, and then they cheered.
