Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) is committed to the full participation of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church.
History of ELM
Executive Summary
This document is a brief history of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries and its predecessor bodies: Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM); and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP).
Founded on October 31, 2007, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) is committed to the full participation of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church.
Lutheran Lesbian and Gay Ministries was founded in 1990. LLGM empowered sexual minority people to pursue their calls to ministry and worked with congregations and communities to create ordained positions despite social and institutional prohibitions supporting and empowering openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer (GLBTQ) pastors and the congregations served by those pastors.
The Extraordinary Candidacy Project was founded in 1993. ECP credentialed openly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender seminarians, candidates, ordained and commissioned ministers who are preparing for professional vocations in independent Lutheran parishes and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Our roster currently has 34 ministers, 9 individuals approved for call and 2 seminarians. Discipline for congregations that call pastors from our rosters has varied throughout the life of the ELCA.
Below you will find:
- Brief History of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
- Brief History and Purpose of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries
- Brief History and Purpose of Extraordinary Candidacy Project
Our vision is to create, empower, and sustain a growing number of faith communities that are committed to the full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church.
This vision is rooted in Lutheran confessional history, liturgy, and practice. We share a commitment to our common Lutheran heritage and an expectation that our confessional tradition will illumine our current struggle to create joy, hope and faith where the institutional churches have failed to do so.
Our unique calling is to expand ministry opportunities for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, with special attention given to those who have either been denied ministry or adversely affected in other significant ways by the existing policies and practices of discrimination and oppression.
October 31, 2007 Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries publicly launches their organization by virtually nailing their theology statement to the doors of Lutherans all over the world.
February 17, 2007 The leaders of three Lutheran entities (LLLGM, ECP and the ECP Roster) that are committed to the full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church agreed to form a new organization and approved a vision document. A team was created at this event that created what later became the ELM Theology Statement that Supplements the Vision Document
2006 A team with representatives from the LLGM, ECP and ECP Roster formed a vision team to create what would become the ELM Vision Document
LLGM was founded in 1990 when two San Francisco congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) decided to call and ordain a gay man and a lesbian couple to be their pastors in violation of a church policy that prohibiting gay, lesbian and bisexual (with a same gender partner) pastors from serving its congregations unless they agreed to life long celibacy. These congregations not only believed that this policy was unjust, but also that it was critical for their credibility, integrity and evangelism that their congregations be served by openly identified sexual minority pastors who fully lived or endorsed same sex relationships. These pastors were fully qualified for ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) but for their refusal to comply with the ELCA’s requirement of life long celibacy. The congregations that called them – St. Francis Lutheran Church and First United Lutheran Church – are diverse congregations that include all sexual orientations, ages, races, and genders.
LLGM became a model ministry demonstrating the gifts and benefits ordained leadership by sexual minority pastors bring to a congregation and community. The establishment of LLGM spurred inspiration for those seeking full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people and staunch adherence to policy from the institution. After a grueling trial the St. Francis and First United were expelled from the ELCA. In subsequent years an increasing number of pastors and seminarians were being forced from Lutheran ministry in the ELCA and turned to LLGM for help. In 1993, LLGM’s sister organization, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was started to provide a structure for pastors, other rostered ministers, and seminarians to gain or retain their professional credentials. The ECP provides the same strict and rigorous certification and rostering process for ministry candidates as the ELCA, but also honors relationships. In 1995 LLGM realized that at the same time there was a growing roster of ministers to serve, there were congregations interested in calling them. Therefore LLGM formally partnered with the ECP to create, facilitate, and support ministry placements for its roster and expand its work nationwide.
In 1995 LLGM awarded its first ministry partnership support grants and since time has provided support grants of over $500,000 to more than 20 ministries. In addition LLGM has provided emergency assistance, technical assistance and legal support to pastors, seminarians, and congregations facing discipline of negative ramifications because of their support of GLBT pastors.
Formed in 1993, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) credentials openly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender seminarians, candidates, ordained and commissioned ministers who are preparing for professional vocations in independent Lutheran parishes and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) is opposed to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) policy of mandated celibacy for sexual minority persons who seek ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry. In part, the ECP is a project of resistance to this policy, to its lack of consistent enforcement of the policy, and to its practice of encouraging intentional deception to avoid the ramifications of the policy. We understand the policy to be a fundamental violation of the createdness of all persons as sexual beings and of the sacredness of the primary relationships of all people.
The ECP is more than resistance. It is a new way of being church in the world. If “ordinary” has come to mean “discriminatory,” we have chosen the adjective "extraordinary" to deliberately emphasize the "out-of-the-ordinary" nature of our project. The policies and procedures that follow are intended to affirm, implement, and support the "extraordinary" nature of our Project.
The ECP promotes the full participation of sexual minority persons in the professional life of the Lutheran church. We actively resist the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's exclusionary practices and discriminatory policies toward sexual minority pastors and candidates for ministry. We exist as a hopeful alternative and model for preparing candidates and certifying the credentials of sexual minority persons who are seeking to have their vocations affirmed and their committed relationships honored.
The ECP works in cooperation with its partner organization, Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM). LLGM offers financial support, pastoral care and legal advice for sexual minority seminarians, pastors, AIMs, diaconal ministers and deaconesses who have refused to comply with the ELCA's celibacy rule and been credentialed by the ECP and admitted to the ECP roster.
LLGM also identifies and develops new ministry opportunities for approved ECP candidates, and works with Lutheran congregations who are willing to call ministers who are not on the ELCA’s roster.
