Montana Synod Assembly

RESOLUTION 2002-7 (substitute)

TITLE:         Support of ordinations outside of the historic episcopacy.

SOURCE:    First Lutheran Church, Plains, Montana

WHEREAS, Christian freedom is always in danger of being list in human rules and regulations, not least of all within the sphere of the church itself; and

WHEREAS, one of the fundamental issues of the reformation for Martin Luther was freedom in Christ for individuals and for the Christian community, and the necessity to distinguish between what was necessary and not necessary (a distinction in regard to adiaphora); and

WHEREAS, many people in the Montana Synod still see the policy and practice of the Historic Episcopacy as infringing on a desirable and healthful freedom, and

WHEREAS, the administration of the Historic Episcopacy ordination policy may act against the conscience of seminary graduates who have been approved for ordination; and

WHEREAS, the 2001 Churchwide Assembly passed a bylaw accepting ordination apart from the Historic Episcopacy;

Therefore be it RESOLVED, that the Montana Synod of the ELCA support seminary graduates who seek ordination apart from the Historic Episcopacy by approval of this resolution; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we thus affirm that the Historic Episcopacy is not an essential matter of faith and practice in the Montana Synod of the ELCA.

RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS:  DO PASS