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Bishop Claire Burkat

The Dangers of the Corporate Church

How the Internet Can Force Us to Take A Good Look at Ourselves

A young man has been ranting online about the death of his sister in a car accident and her insurance company’s maneuverings to avoid paying the benefit included in her policy. They have probably spent more than the $75,000 the policy promised.

Considering the tragic circumstances, Mike Fisher’s writing is civil. His arguments make sense and are presented graciously. The battle that his parents have had to wage reveals the failing of corporate thinking. Money and litigation experience allows the Corporation to abuse its customers.

There was a time when victims of bad corporate behavior had little recourse.

Today, the internet can make a dent in corporate thinking. Matt Fisher’s writings got the attention of Seth Godin and his massive corporate following.

Seth writes:

They bet on short memories and the healing power of marketing dollars, commercials and discounts. Employees are pushed to focus on bureaucratic policies and quarterly numbers, not a realization that individuals, not corporations, are responsible for what they do.

The Corporate Church is no better than Progressive. They are mired in “corporate think.”  It’s handling of its members has strayed far from biblical teachings. Dollars rule. People: too bad.

In Redeemer’s conflict with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the same thinking is evident. The Church turned on its own “policy holders.” The conflict was vicious from the opening bell. The bishop attempts to make it look as if great efforts were made otherwise. They weren’t. In all the rhetoric explaining how hard they worked with Redeemer, they never give examples. There aren’t any.

The Church, from the start, used corporate power and pooled assets of 160 congregations to go after individuals in one small church.

The people of Redeemer always thought we were on the same side.

The lives of 82 lay volunteer church members have been turned upside down for four years with no end in sight. The Church is oblivious that their actions are against their own members— old people, children, immigrants, disabled people, students—faithful, hard-working people—the people the Church advertises that it cares for.

To SEPA, we are the enemy.

This enemy has been fighting for one thing—that SEPA and the ELCA keep the promises made to member churches.

The courts don’t want any part of church disputes. Unfortunately neither do other congregations, clergy, Presiding Bishop Hanson, or the national church.

Progressive Insurance creates enticing advertisements. Get the dollars flowing.

The Corporate Church preaches that it cares about bullying and social justice, love, reconciliation and compassion. When put to the test, it is just as self-protective of power and money as the Corporate Insurance Agency.

They are both in the “people business.” It’s time they both act like it.

People could stop the abuse. Will they?

We won’t buy Progressive Insurance. We still call ourselves Lutheran.

17 Aug 2012

Valuing the Small Church for What It Is

Small churches are the Church’s secret weapon.
They just don’t know it!

Here’s the paradox of church work.

The mission is to reach all the world, right?

Only a small percentage of the world can afford to support “church” the way it is understood in the West. Even we in the West are having a tough time of it! Do we really welcome the ill and indigent to be part of the economic burden of Church?

The Church has set itself up for perpetual failure. It blames the few people who are supporting it for that failure. Result: morale is in the pits. Visitors sense gloom!

The people who still support neighborhood congregations are very good people. Passionate. Self-sacrificing. Dedicated beyond measure!

The Church, blinded by economics, saps as much from them as possible before exercising hierarchical powers — constitutional or not — throwing its strongest supporters to the curb (literally in Redeemer’s case!).

Forced church closings, where hierarchy self-righteously grabs assets is bad enough. When this is done by design it is downright sinful.

Church regional bodies have been taught to ignore struggling churches and wait them out. It’s right in the book used to train regional managers of various denominations (co-authored by SEPA’s own Bishop Claire Burkat).

“You do not have the luxury of giving everyone who asks for help whatever time you have available. Some tough decisions need to be made as to where your Regional Body is going to invest time, energy, and resources. Thinking in terms of TRIAGE is a most responsible thing to do at the present time. Congregations that will die within the next ten years should receive the least amount of time and attention. They should receive time that assists them to die with celebration and dignity. Offer these congregations a ‘caretaker’ pastor who would give them quality palliative care until they decide to close their doors.  It is the kind of tough-minded leadership that will be needed at the helm if your organization is to become a Transformational Regional Body.”

There it is in black and white. Don’t waste time and resources on congregations that will close in ten years (if you do nothing).

A decade is long enough to fight two world wars!

And so the premise for mission changes. This part is not written down in congregational mission statements.

Churches want people who can support the way things are. Even better if they could support the way things were. Property and the staff come first. Programming and mission a distant last.

What would happen if the Church concentrated — really concentrated — on small church ministry? What if they found a way to help congregations be small, proud and strong — as opposed to dictating ministry solutions that work only in larger settings.

Small churches still have one big thing going for them. People still tend to prefer smaller churches!

It’s up to the smaller churches to insist on a change in attitude. This may not be as hard as it seems. Together, small churches outnumber large churches.

Find your voice! While you still have one!

17 Aug 2012

Called to Common Mission, Indeed!

Lutherans have hitched their star to the Episcopal wagon. Now what?
Here is an interesting and lengthy discussion of the challenges facing the Episcopal Church.

The ELCA hitched its star to the Episcopal wagon a number of years ago and announced with great hoopla that we are now in full communion. (Called to Common Mission)

Lutherans were promised that the alliance was for flexibility, broadening the resource pool. Lutheran clergy and Episcopal priests could now vie for calls and employment in either denomination.

But it has resulted in more fundamental changes. It is changing the way we think and act, which isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s not necessarily good either. Martin Luther left a good legacy.

The ELCA and its predecessor bodies are historically a broad demographic with both low and high church values represented, often among ethnic or cultural lines. The American experience, which never answered to the Archbishop of Canterbury or any European figurehead, has traditionally no such loyalty to hierarchy.

The Lutheran tradition of congregational polity is a strength which small congregations should never be asked to sign away. Small churches must be free to adapt to their changing communities. This is harder to do under hierarchies. Hierarchies understand “big.”

  • Did the decision, advocated mostly by clergy, change our polity? No, but . . .
  • Are there statistics on how much this has benefited anyone?
  • How much resource sharing has been going on? (There doesn’t seem to be a lot of resources for either denomination to share!)

It is becoming increasingly clear that dissenting Lutherans were correct about many things.

Lutheran leadership has become more and more hierarchical. It began with a shift in language, then in behavior.

In the negotiations, Lutherans did a lot of agreeing to Episcopal terms.

Lay people don’t tend to care much about things like apostolic succession. We know that our bishops (which we used to call more appropriately “presidents”) are elected. Now every Lutheran clergy to be ordained must submit to Episcopal approval. Many of them have probably never set foot in an Episcopal church, but now their calling needs their blessing.

From reading this report, it is clear that we have sacrificed the wisdom of our experience to a troubled denomination.

The Episcopalians are so concerned that some want to scrap their leadership structure entirely, realizing they cannot support, nor do they need, a hierarchy. We have written about this before.

Meanwhile, Lutheran leadership is separating itself from its constituency more and more. They are planning to have full church assemblies every three years instead of two. If they operate like our local Synod Assembly, it won’t matter much—and that’s too bad. The regional assembly is fairly well orchestrated to get the approvals it wants with as little discussion as possible. But at least there was a chance of making a difference every two years. But then, maybe this is an admission that the hierarchy has less purpose.

Regardless, the action serves to alienate lay people — who still provide the support and funding for the mistakes made by the hierarchically minded.

Soon, if Lutherans want to rise to a call to change anything, they will have to wait three years. This may save money but it is unwise. Change is happening at a faster pace. More forums are needed, not fewer.

But the deed is done. We are in full communion with a denomination that doesn’t know where it is headed to the point that some talk about starting over. Have we been set up for a bait and switch?

If you think this shift in governance isn’t part of SEPA’s attitude toward small congregations, think again. In East Falls, Bishop Claire Burkat was assisting our Episcopal neighbors—we suspect for hire—while trying to destroy her own denomination’s church a few blocks away, hoping for assets to make up their huge deficit. The Episcopal Church in East Falls was of no stronger number than Redeemer with a far less desirable location for mission purposes. Bishop Burkat gave the Episcopalians of East Falls more consideration than the Lutherans.

Called to Common Mission, indeed.


photo credit: Whitewolf Photography (retouched) via photo pin cc
14 Jul 2012

God is doing something new AGAIN in East Falls

Redeemer, East Falls is too small to serve its “missional” purpose (“missional” is not a word but church people seem to understand it).

That was the premise used by Bishop Claire Burkat and her coterie. It was never true. It sounded good to the people they needed to convince in order to have their way—which had nothing to do with mission but was all about money and property and synod’s habitual deficit spending.

SEPA’s actions did tons of damage to our people, our congregation and to our neighborhood, but Redeemer’s mission continues to grow. That’s what happens when you work a plan with selfless resilience and flexibility!

One of our projects was to develop our ministry online (since we had no building). We started slowly, doing research and following best practices. The site grew slowly at first, but after about six months, it was apparent there was a foundation for steady growth and an inexhaustible potential.

The site has grown steadily over all. There are day-to-day peaks and valleys, but the weekly and monthly trends reveal steady growth that is picking up.

In the last two weeks a few remarkable things have begun to happen on www.2x2virtualchurch.com.

We now have 100 people who read out posts by email each day. We have an additional 50 unique  visitors every day. Our weekly unique readership (not counting those who follow us on Facebook, Twitter or email) hovered between 180 and 275 for the last six weeks. Adding our subscribers or followers to that number puts us at around 1000 readers each week.

Our global reach is picking up. There are a few countries that check in daily—France, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines and most recently, India. Twice this week our foreign readership outpaced United States readers, at least until the very end of the day when there is often a surge in North American readership.

People are slowly beginning to participate in the discussion, often by email rather than on the site.

Yesterday, we had a request to find a way to have the site translated into Urdu, so Pakistani Christians might have access to our posts.

We invited churches to follow the site. That invitation has led to interesting friendships with four other congregations—two in Kenya, one in Pakistan and one near to us in Philadelphia.

Redeemer was never more able to fulfill its “missional” purpose. We believe our mission and ministry activities measure well with every other congregation in SEPA (large and small) — who now have the benefit of our resources.

photo credit: jurvetson (retouched) via photo pin cc
12 Jul 2012

SEPA Lutherans Have A Second Chance

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is marking the commencement of Bishop Claire Burkat’s second term as bishop.

She and much of SEPA Synod have been jubilant at her reelection on the first ballot (by one vote) at May’s Synod Assembly.

Bishop Burkat refused to recognize one congregation which by SEPA governance was entitled to about five votes (a clergy vote, one male and one female vote, a vote as a predominantly black congregation and a vote as a multilingual congregation.)

The rest of Synod Assembly and the ELCA never questioned the edict and turned a deaf ear to our protests.

Other congregations were muscled out of existence before us, reducing the voting pool. One way to guarantee success is to intimidate or eliminate opposition.

Redeemer is not an authoritarian church and we have no idea how our delegates might have voted at the last four Synod Assemblies that have turned us away with no constitutional authority. Neither does anyone else!

We suspect that Redeemer’s five votes might have made a difference.

Redeemer, now supposedly excommunicated from Lutheran fellowship, remains loyal to the Lutheran Church. Even amid oppression, Redeemer has made a difference in the Lutheran presence in the five-county area. In court in 2009, Synod’s legal representation argued that Redeemer is the first of six churches they plan to close by force.

It would appear that a few congregations have been spared (for the time being) because of Redeemer’s stand.

We hope that in her second term, Bishop Burkat does a better job. This time we hope she leads good people in exercising the values the Lutheran Church teaches — love, compassion, gentleness, kindness, forgiveness, reconciliation, atonement and grace.

Everyone deserves a second chance.

30 Jun 2012

The Quickest Way to Church Transformation

Marketing Guru Seth Godin’s blog post this morning is short but speaks volumes to a topic near and dear to the hearts of Church leaders — transformation. What’s the quickest way to achieve transformational goals?

  1. Don’t demand authority.
  2. Eagerly take responsibility.
  3. Relentlessly give credit.

The blog post has only one more sentence, a caveat warning that it is not the easiest way but the quickest.

Contrast this to the way Church leadership often approaches “transformation.”

  1. They demand authority (constitutionally or not).
  2. They relentlessly find fault within congregations and assign blame to volunteer laborers.
  3. They grab credit for any success.

No wonder Church “transformation” so often ends with results that are counterproductive to the mandates of Christianity.

Seth says so much in just a few words. So we won’t add any more.

17 May 2012

SEPA Passes First Balanced Budget in Two Decades

At the recent Assembly of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Claire Burkat announced with pride that SEPA was adopting its first balanced budget in more than 20 years. It was formed in 1988. That’s almost its entire history.

The practice of budgeting and spending far more than they had any hope of bringing in through voluntary contributions from member churches was a very bad practice that 2×2 believes led to coveting the assets of smaller congregations. Large churches had the benefits of services from staffs they could afford only by relying on small churches giving up everything. This led to neglecting the needs of small congregations. Part time, revolving-door ministries wore down the lay people until they gave in. Several churches were forced into closure with assets going to the synod.

This is presented as good stewardship. We think it is squandering the lay people’s legacy and investments in their neighborhoods.

Constitutionally, there is no requirement that any member church contribute to Synod. There is also no constitutional requirement that congregations must designate assets to the Synod upon closing. Congregations may sell their property at any time and determine how the proceeds are to be spent. This is historic Lutheran polity. There are many stories of congregations voting to close and leaving nothing to their denomination. There is an expectation that remaining assets be used for some charitable purpose in keeping with the congregation’s mission and with the approval of the congregation, but Synods are not to be the determiners. The congregations are.

Bishops and Synod Councils are not given constitutional powers to vote congregations out of the ELCA without serious negotiation. This requires a vote of the congregation. Of course, in SEPA, if the congregation doesn’t vote SEPA’s way — you can always just declare things to be the way you want them to be. Let the people eat cake.

But thinking changed in SEPA. They were passing six-figure deficit budgets and relying on the sale of closed church properties to save the day. They placed the assets in what they called The Mission Fund. They dipped into this fund whenever their deficit budget hit the wall. Declining membership and giving in even the largest churches made this a regular occurrence.

Things have changed. SEPA’s finance committee objected to the practice of including projected sales of properties in their proposed budget. Kudos.

We like to think that Redeemer’s insistence on Lutheran polity helped turn the tide. It is very unfortunate that this new-found wisdom was at the expense of the East Falls faith community (and about six others).

14 May 2012

Is the Lutheran Church (ELCA) becoming a cult?

martin%20luther%20sealLutherans are an accepted mainline Christian denomination. They can’t possibly be considered a cult, can they?

There is debate about what constitutes a cult as opposed to a religion. Some authorities refuse to use the word “cult.” Others believe the word appropriately describes religious groups with certain common characteristics.

 

Interestingly, both extremes agree on one point. Cults include religious groups that exist outside the law — including their own governing laws.

 

This was part of the court ruling in the SEPA/Redeemer conflict. The Pennsylvania Court of Appeals ruled in a split decision that the case brought against the congregation by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (SEPA/ELCA) could not be heard because of First Amendment separation of church/state. However a strongly worded dissenting opinion found that if the law is applied, Redeemer’s position is well-grounded.

 

The question for lay church members and all Lutherans is serious. How are we to function when our constitutions cannot be interpreted by the law and when leaders are immune from the law but do not hesitate to use their protected status and the law to attack church members?

 

We predict this will be a continuing problem in the Lutheran church.

 

As this conflict unfolded over a period of about five years, several other cultlike characteristics came to define SEPA’s leadership.

 

cultThe ELCA describes itself, its congregations, synods and agencies as interdependent. There is no hierarchy. Each expression is to be supportive of the other. These characteristics are not necessarily descriptive of every synod or every congregation. However, each characteristic we cite can be documented in the SEPA/Redeemer conflict. The following posts record some of what went on.

Showdown on Midvale Avenue

Our Response to Bishop Burkat

Menu Page: SEPA/Redeemer

 

  • Cults are control-oriented. Bishop Claire Burkat refused to work with Redeemer’s elected leaders, insisting on taking every issue directly to the congregation. This destroys constitutionally mandated congregational leadership structure. Redeemer insisted that she respect the elected leaders of the congregation as spokespeople for the congregation (which is why congregations elect leaders). Bishop Burkat replaced Redeemer’s leadership by decree — without meeting with either the leadership or the congregation to discuss this.
  • Isolation is used as a control tool. The pastor serving Redeemer in 2006 resigned with 10 days notice after a private meeting with the bishop. A year later, the pastor Redeemer hoped to call visited with the Bishop’s office and never returned to Redeemer. This gave Redeemer no clergy vote, voice or influence.
  • Cults make it difficult to leave. Redeemer passed a congregational resolution to withdraw from the ELCA, which is constitutionally allowed. According to the constitution, a request is supposed to activate a 90-day period of negotiation. SEPA responded by informing Redeemer it could not withdraw; it was officially “terminated.” The congregation would no longer have a vote or voice in any gathering of Lutherans.
  • Rights of members are not clearly defined.  Redeemer was told it had no right to appeal until a week before Synod Assembly in 2008. The cycle repeated in 2009. Throughout this process, Redeemer’s requests for appeal guidelines were ignored. The format for the appeal was provided just days before Synod Assembly. At the same time, Redeemer was told they could attend Synod Assembly ONLY for the purpose of the appeal—despite the fact that their delegate registrations had already been accepted.
  • Questioning leadership is discouraged. Redeemer’s attempts to communicate with the synod were ignored.
  • Cults treat the property of members as if it is their own. The whole purpose of the Redeemer conflict was to make Redeemer’s property synod’s property. Today, four years after the courts deeded our property to synod, Bishop Burkat can barely say  the name Redeemer. She calls us “former” Redeemer (although we never voted to close). She refers to our property as the land “once occupied” by “former Redeemer” as if we never purchased it, owned it, and built and cared for the buildings. In her mind our ownership of land seems to have been in trust — waiting for the day she wanted to claim it. Other SEPA congregations take note. If SEPA’s logic applies, you think you own your land. SEPA thinks you occupy THEIR land.
  • Cult leadership exploits vulnerable circumstances, even creating the illusion of crisis, with no attempt to address the problems. Although, SEPA refused to help the congregation find leadership, Redeemer was not in crisis. The church was growing and ready to call new leadership. Many congregations are under the false impression that Synod was financially supporting Redeemer. Other way around!
  • Cult leadership answers to no higher authority. Redeemer requested assistance from Bishop Hanson and the legal offices of the national church but were turned away. An attempt to talk to a Synod Council member (who are supposed to represent the congregations) was rebuffed.
  • Cult leadership employs deception. Synod-appointed trustees introduced themselves to Redeemer as “fact finders” not “trustees.” Redeemer was not informed it was under synodical administration for five months. Bishop Burkat came to a meeting announced for one purpose and had a locksmith hiding in a van behind the property.
  • Cult leaders use fear and intimidation. A Redeemer officer was warned to “get out while the getting is good.” The first resort of Bishop Burkat was a lawsuit naming individual church members personally. Add to this the pastors who “disappeared” after meetings in the bishop’s office. And then there was the Showdown on Midvale Avenue.
  • Cult leaders use character assassination. The story persists, first told by trustees in 2008, that Redeemer members tried to have the bishop arrested. This never happened. That was the beginning of the gossip against Redeemer leaders.
  • The lack of open debate is a sure sign of a cult. SEPA made all rules for the appeal forum. A mere 10 minutes was allotted for discussion, extended at the last minute by the bishop to 20 minutes. All of that 20 minutes was filled with pre-arranged speakers—more than doubling Synod’s presentation time. The first person to reach the microphones with a question was told “time is up.” Redeemer was not allowed to participate in the discussion. In three years, no active pastors have spoken publicly on these issues.
  • Events are controlled.  (See above)
  • The behavior of the leaders is excused no matter how harsh or harmful to members. Eleven volunteer lay members of Redeemer are threatened with the loss of their homes as the result of four years of litigation. No one in SEPA is asking if this harsh treatment of Redeemer church members is necessary or advisable.
  • Dependency on the group leader is encouraged. Analytical thought is discouraged. Redeemer was told in 2006 that they couldn’t do outreach ministry except through synod’s mission office, which would direct and control mission activity. There are no such rules in either the synod’s or the congregation’s constitutions. It is the mission of every congregation to do outreach ministry. Synod cannot possibly control them all! Or maybe they can! Our Ambassador visits reveal a high percentage of congregations have interim, bridge, or mission developer pastors, which report to Synod. There is a reason why Synods demand congregations work with a Synod Mission Office. It’s an underhanded abuse of the constitution. Once a congregation accepts help from a Mission office, they lose property rights. But congregations don’t know that until it’s too late.
  • Practical solutions are excluded in preference of a leader’s wishes. Redeemer has offered numerous compromises for peace and been ignored. There are many ways to resolve this conflict that would be in line with Christian teachings.
  • The use of loaded language. Bishop Burkat opened her only meeting with Redeemer representatives with a tirade using the word “adversarial” repeatedly. Most of the people present had never met the bishop before. The incessant and false re-telling of the “attempt to have the bishop arrested” is another example.
  • Cults promote the illusion of innovation. 2012 Synod Assembly rallying cry: “God is doing something new” without much evidence of any new thinking.
  • Excessive use of guilt. Members are never good enough. Their history is criticized. Their leaders are criticized. Their social connections are faulted. Redeemer knows all about this!
  • Leaders claim no responsibility. Members bear all the blame.
  • And finally . . . . Cults operate in defiance of the teachings of their scriptures. Lutherans should be practicing what we preach . . . love, compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness and atonement. Not in SEPA!

We’ve heard similar stories in at least three other ELCA synods, but we are not suggesting that all ELCA synods and congregations fit the above criteria. But some Lutheran entities have clearly lost their way.

There is cause for concern. We trust there is also hope.

_________________

Characteristics of cults were referenced from http://www.prem-rawat-talk.org/forum/uploads/CultCharacteristics.htm
09 May 2012

Approving Failure—Par for the Church

2×2 has often commented on the Church’s ability to accept — even celebrate — failure. Ministries are allowed to exist in decline for decades, often with the same pastor, as things get worse and revenues dwindle until there is no more money to pay for failure or make long overdue changes.

It is inexplicable, but the Church follows the same pattern over and over. Year after year, budgets must be cut and services slashed, but we stick with the same leadership as if asking for better performance is a betrayal.

SEPA Synod just followed the familiar road. Six years of budget struggles. Six years of expensive law suits (all of which could have been avoided). Six years of decline. And SEPA Synod re-elected leadership on the FIRST ballot.

Were there no options? Was the mess too much for someone else to take on? Are people happy existing in failure? Do all the small churches in SEPA think that they are suddenly going to have more options and better accountability?

Or does everyone feel it’s hopeless—as some have expressed to us?

Redeemer has been denied a voice for four years (an issue we consider still open, since Synod Assembly never addressed our appeal on this issue). We have no voice in the Church by decree of the bishop SEPA reelected.

We will continue to watch from the outside as our ministry continues unrecognized by SEPA but effective all the same.

It doesn’t look like there’s much to celebrate for the next six years as ministry numbers will probably continue to decline across the board. We hope not! But . . . Lutherans have spoken. They like it this way!

04 May 2012

One Last Word from the Church You Love to Hate

The Annual Assembly of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America convenes this Friday.

In 2009, the SEPA Assembly voted to allow Bishop Burkat and SEPA to take Redeemer’s property. The vote was in defiance of their own governing rules. Someone should have challenged the constitutionality right there and then.

But they didn’t. They followed the crowd.

The vote dealt with nothing but property. Bishop Burkat interpreted the vote as permission to do anything she pleased with Redeemer. She had already declared us ineligible to vote with NO constitutional authority. This part of our appeal was ignored by Synod Assembly.

She used the vote about our property to justify a personal and vindictive attack on Redeemer members. Lesson learned: Speak up for what you believe in SEPA/ELCA and have your livelihood threatened. (In East Falls, we call it the SEPA Inquisition.)

SEPA clergy and congregations remain silent. Bullying works.

And so, with no vote of the congregation and no discussion, an entire congregation was excommunicated from the ELCA and SEPA Synod. “Get out and hand us the keys.”

At least the remaining congregations know what will become of them if they dare to challenge leadership. The pattern is well documented. Your clergy will disappear. Your calls and letters will go unanswered. There will be a knock on the door. You’ll be locked out. It’s legal now, because no one spoke up. Any individual in the Church who dares to protest will have their lives turned inside out and upside down.

No one is doing a thing to stop it.

Synod Council has been ineffective at representing the congregations they serve. They fell in line behind the bishop early on. They have been hiding behind her skirts ever since.

Redeemer is still an active worshiping congregation, despite the abuse. We still have faith that Lutherans will speak up. It’s a Lutheran tradition, after all.

Redeemer’s ministry will continue regardless of the strength of SEPA’s backbone.

Redeemer is not closed. We are locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod — its bishop, its Synod Council, its Synod Assembly and all its congregations and clergy. Shame!

Will  SEPA Synod 2012 make a difference? Probably not.

The people of East Falls will always be the people the Lutherans of SEPA turned away.

02 May 2012