A Little Falls, Minn., pastor recently spoke out about his decision to resign after his congregation rejected a motion to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The Rev. Nate Bjorge told the Brainerd Dispatch that First Lutheran Church’s vote last month to stay in the ELCA called into question his effectiveness as a pastor.
“I was extremely disheartened,” Bjorge told the local newspaper as he recalled the Oct. 11 vote. “I haven’t been angry by this whole process. Sad might be a better word.”
The congregational vote was prompted by a controversial decision by the ELCA’s chief legislative body in August to allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to be ordained. Since then more than a dozen congregations in Minnesota have vowed or already voted to sever ties with the denomination.
First Lutheran wasn’t one of them.
Minn. Pastor Parts with Congregation Over Homosexuality | Christianpost.com.
