Lutheran Congregation Keeps Actively Gay Pastor*

Monday August 13, 2007 1:16 AM

By DORIE TURNER

Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) - With hugs and cheers Sunday, members of Atlanta's oldest
Lutheran church celebrated the pastor at the center of a battle over the
treatment of gay clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The support for the Rev. Bradley Schmeling at St. John's Lutheran Church
came a day after the national assembly of the ELCA in Chicago urged
bishops to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate
a celibacy rule. The assembly's action fell short of permitting ordained
gays churchwide.

Schmeling called the assembly's vote a ``crack in the dam'' and told the
more than 100 people gathered in the St. John's sanctuary that the
congregation had ``given its gift'' to the ELCA.

``The hard work, the struggle, has really finally made a difference for
years to come,'' he said.

Schmeling became a focus of the ELCA's debate over gay clergy when he
was removed from the church's clergy roster last year after he told his
bishop that he was in a relationship with a man.

A disciplinary committee decided it had no choice but to defrock
Schmeling and order him out of the pulpit due to a policy that excludes
gay, bisexual and transgendered persons in relationships from the
ordained ministry.

However, the committee also suggested that the church consider
reinstating gay clergy forced to step down because of their
relationships. And it concluded that, aside from his relationship,
Schmeling had proved he is worthy of his title.

After Saturday's vote, he will continue to be pastor at St. John's at
the request of the congregation, although his name will stay off the
clergy list.

Schmeling said the removal of his name from the clergy roster will only
present problems if he seeks a job with another congregation - and he
said he has no plans to leave St. John's.

``On a day-to-day basis, nothing changes here,'' he said.

Bishop Ronald B. Warren, head of the ELCA's Southeastern Synod, has said
he plans to take no further action against St. John's or Schmeling.

Like other mainline Protestant groups, the ELCA has been struggling to
reconcile differences on the issue.

The assembly's 538-431 vote followed an emotional debate on how the
denomination should interpret what the Bible says about homosexuality.
It decided to postpone a more concrete decision on gay clergy for two
years until a task force nearing the end of an eight-year study on human
sexuality releases its findings.

St. John's members said although the assembly vote was disappointing,
they hope it is a small step forward.

``I felt real pain and rejection of us and what we've been fighting for,
for years,'' said Barbara Arne, who headed the committee that hired
Schmeling in 2000. ``But I'm really hopeful pastors and congregations
will be at less risk for going through what Pastor Brad and all of us
have.''

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On the Net:

St. John's Lutheran Church: http://www.stjohnsatlanta.org/

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: http://www.elca.org/