A = B = C?

This summer, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America held a convention similar to our General Convention. The major news was consent to gay relationships, which has the effect of bolstering our own progressive position on that issue.

Less prominently reported was the ELCA's recognition of ministers in the United Methodist Church as interchangeable with Lutheran pastors. To me, a convert from the Methodist Church, this is perplexing and troubling. If Methodist ministers can lead Lutheran churches and Lutheran pastors can be rectors of Episcopal parishes, can Methodists take charge of our churches--even though they have a very different concept of ordination, the sacraments, the apostolic succession and many other traditional doctrines?

To me, this is a far more substantial issue than the private behavior of a tiny minority of Christian adults. --J. Douglas Ousley