Why SEPA Needs More Redeemers

Did Jesus die so that we might fight one another?It will soon be three years since member churches of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America failed to support one of its member churches and voted— against its own rules—to allow Bishop Claire Burkat to take the property of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls, Philadelphia.

This, by the way, is the only issue Synod Assembly voted on. It was not the only issue Redeemer had appealed. Bishop Burkat interpreted the vote as blanket endorsement of all her policies.

Redeemer, which she had already improperly stripped of membership rights even before the vote, now had no say in the church. This was not the Lutheran way. It is now!

This exertion of questionable power was intended to strike a final blow to a church that had been a thorn in the Synod’s side for a decade because Redeemer would not accept the imposition of powers it never agreed to upon joining the ELCA.

Instead, the “final blow” sparked legal action. Courts have taken a hands-off stance. In four years of litigation the case was never heard. By citing the First Amendment (forbidding the establishment of law regarding religion), the courts have ironically made law not only for SEPA churches but for every corporation in Pennsylvania. The Articles of Incorporation, once the document to which all bylaws had to conform, are now subservient to any fickle bylaw change.

The SEPA/Redeemer conflict, which raged while member churches watched in silence has changed every congregation’s relationship with SEPA and the ELCA. Lutheran polity, developed over hundreds of years and a source of our denomination’s strength, was changed in the courts, not by consent of the governed.

Lutherans have been asleep. Clergy, who should know better, failed to speak up and defend the congregations they serve. Are they afraid? Are they looking out for themselves?

Lay people, who as individuals may have great knowledge of church rules or almost none, followed the clergy.

Lay people are now vulnerable. Clergy will disappear at the first sign of trouble. Because courts won’t hear cases involving church government, your church leaders will not hesitate to make disputes personal against the lay leaders of your congregation. This has been their strategy.

This is church government at its worse.

The result: no SEPA congregation really owns its property any longer. Your bishop can swoop in and lock doors and sell your land and your constitution no longer protects you. Your bishop does not need any reason under this new interpretation of the law. Your bishop must only convince Synod Council, which has proven to be a pushover, that it is for the best — not necessarily the congregation’s best — the Synod’s best.

This is the result of a Synod Assembly passing huge deficit budgets that could not be met without going after the assets of member churches.

Bishop Burkat is indignant that anyone suggests this was a plan, but she has failed to identify from where the additional annual $300,000 was to come if not from taking property from member churches.

Redeemer stood up to this.

Only the congregations of SEPA can fix this mess. But that means it must adopt some of the qualities of Redeemer.

Congregations and clergy must

  • question their government. If they do this with fear, that’s a sign something is wrong.
  • connect with their representatives and become informed of the issues they vote on.
  • learn to speak up.
  • become more interconnected. Who are your neighbors? It’s easy to vote against your neighbors when you know nothing about them!
  • read their founding documents.

It wouldn’t hurt if some of the messages of the original founding document — the Bible — were applied.

It is hard for us at Redeemer to not ponder this as we approach our third Easter locked out of our church by a denomination that has allowed this to happen.

Even so, we extend Easter blessings to you all.

photo credit: EssjayNZ via photopin cc