Category: Blog

In addition to beginning his studies at the Lutheran School  of Theology at Chicago this August, Robert Needham provided invaluable help in the ELM Chicago office during our staff transition. We are so grateful for having Robert as part of our team for a short time! I invited Robert to share some thoughts about his first days at LSTC. -Amalia

by Robert Needham, Guest Blogger

During the months of August and September young people throughout the country begin their school year. This is no less true of those God has called to serve in the church who are beginning the academic year in seminary, divinity school or other theological education. Moves from places far across the country (if not globe) took place. New student orientations and subsequent explorations of the new locations happened; during this time relationships began to take shape.

When I moved onto campus, I prepared to experience a sense of being an “other” because of the many ways I perceived myself as different from the seminary community. Although I attend a Lutheran seminary and embrace some Lutheran theology, I have not yet joined a Lutheran church. As an openly queer person who has received a significant amount of bullying because of that identification, I braced for rejection and taunting from classmates. I spent a few years outside of academic life before starting my theological education. Many of my classmates transitioned from undergraduate graduation to graduate school with little more than a summer in between.

However, no matter what I expected God surprised me with welcoming community, and all of the othering I expected did not matter. Since arriving on campus almost a month and a half before classes started, I anticipated the arrival of new students during the weeks before orientation. The mutual welcome we gave to each other allowed me to identify as and to become part of this seminary community. This space also opened up several conversations about what it means to be queer, and how that looks on a seminary campus. At a personal level, I define queer as “beyond the mainstream.” What exactly that means, each person can decide as they get to know me.

During the Master of Arts student meeting, I had conversation about LGBTQ identities and how they work in various ministry contexts. For several of the students, I was the first openly queer person they had met, and certainly one of the first they felt fully comfortable asking questions about identity. This was the beginning of a pleasant surprise. The seminary community celebrates each person in their personhood, celebrating the diverse perspectives they bring to the table. As a not-quite-Lutheran, I’ve learned how important grace is, not just for me in all my brokenness, but for all of those children of God I encounter in daily life. Finally, as a person who needed an academic break, I realize how much I’ve missed the academic context. God has been working throughout my lifetime to bring me to this point, and I am thankful for the community God prepared to share the seminary experience together.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) has hired our first ever program director, the Rev. Jen Rude!

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries’ work with LGBTQ rostered leaders, seminarians and ministries has expanded enormously in the past few years. The ELM Board of Directors felt the vital next step was to provide the staffing support these growing programs need.

From a solid pool of talented candidates, we found a clear choice in Jen.

Jen brings considerable program experience to this role, developed over her 8+ years at the Night Ministry and Resurrection Lutheran Church. Jen has done significant anti-oppression work, and has excellent experience working with youth and young adults. Jen has been serving as the volunteer Proclaim program chair for the past few years and currently serves on the ELM Board of Directors. Jen attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD. She received a B.A. in Religion with Gender Studies and Psychology minors. Jen earned her divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. Jen was extraordinarily ordained in 2007 and received onto the ELCA Clergy Roster in 2011.

Jen’s role will be directing ELM’s three programs: Proclaim, Candidacy Accompaniment, and Ministry Engagement. Her first day will be October 1.  Jen’s position is full-time and she will be working from our Chicago office at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square. Jen will join Executive Director Amalia Vagts to round out the staff for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.

Freed and compelled by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to proclaim God’s love and seek justice for all, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries envisions a church where all may serve God according to their callings. The mission of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries is to expand opportunities for Lutheran LGBTQ rostered leaders and their ministries in order to proclaim God’s love and justice for all people. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries does this work through three main programs: Candidacy Accompaniment, Ministry Engagement, and Proclaim—a professional community for Lutheran LGBTQ rostered leaders and seminarians. Learn more at www.elm.org.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministry has released a major new resource for candidacy committees working with LGBTQ candidates in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Click here to download the resource as a PDF: Candidacy for LGBTQ Individuals- Draft.  The resource is also available on the elm.org homepage.

Candidacy and LGBTQ Individuals was prepared as an offered resource for Synodical Candidacy Committees in the ELCA in their work with candidates seeking rostering in the ELCA. Although it was prepared carefully and reviewed extensively, the resource is being released in draft form to allow for feedback and modification from those working in candidacy.  ELM will publish a final version in early October. Anyone is invited to submit comments and feedback that will strengthen this resource. Please send comments to info@elm.org.

Some candidacy committees may have limited experience in engaging LGBTQ candidates. This guide is intended to help that engagement to be a respectful and rewarding one for both candidates and committees. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries has been working with openly LGBTQ candidates for ministry for many years and has learned quite a bit in the process. This resource has developed out of that work and through extensive review and conversations with LGBTQ candidates, Candidacy Committee members, seminary staff, churchwide and synodical personnel.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (www.elm.org) is a social ministry organization that expands opportunities for LGBTQ rostered leaders and their ministries through three primary programs: Proclaim, the professional community for Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians who public identify as LGBTQ; Ministry Engagement, which connects ministries led by or open to leadership by LGBTQ leaders; and Accompaniment, which supports LGBTQ people through the candidacy and call processes. The Accompaniment Advisory Team includes the following people: Rev. Dr. Randy Nelson, Rev. Dawn Roginski, Rev. Rod Seeger, Rev. Anita Hill, Rev. Tom Taylor, Rev. Joy McDonald Coltvet, Rev. Jason Bense, Rose Beeson, and Asher O’Callaghan.

Candidacy and LGBTQ Individuals was authored and edited by the Rev. Dr. Randy Nelson, based on a previous version written by the Rev. Megan Rohrer. Reviewers and contributors included members of the LGBTQ community; rostered leaders; seminarians; former and current candidacy committee members; seminary faculty; and ELCA synodical bishops. Additional information about Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries is available at www.elm.org.

Last Friday at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, I heard an excellent sermon preached on Matthew 15:21-28, the story of the Syrophoenician woman. In it, I heard good news for LGBTQ people and especially those called to places where they have not been welcomed.

In this passage, we heard a difficult truth – that Jesus didn’t always welcome everyone. When a woman from outside the Jewish faith approached him for a miracle to save her daughter, first the disciples turned her away. Then Jesus did. She persisted and in a stunningly frank exchange she made it clear that she was able to accept whatever Jesus had to offer. Her faithfulness changed Jesus. As biblical scholars note, this is a turning point for Jesus and leads to a great expansion of his ministry to people outside the Jewish faith.

The pastor didn’t mention LGBTQ people, but as I sat among a dozen or so LGBTQ pastors, candidates and seminarians as I listened to his sermon, I could only think of the faithfulness of people who have been rejected at many turns, but continue to follow a call to ministry.  I sat next to a pastor who served faithfully as a pastoral associate for nearly 20 years before her congregation decided to move forward and ordain her extraordinarily. I sat near a clergy couple who were placed in separate rooms by their candidacy committee and quizzed about their relationship.  I sat near someone who was selected for a full tuition scholarship from the ELCA’s Fund for Leaders several years ago, and who still awaits first call. I sat near another pastor whose candidacy committee told him that he was the one of the best candidates for ministry they’d ever seen, but that they could not approve him due to the ELCA’s (then) guidelines. Despite these barriers, each of these pastors has followed her or his call to ministry, and the church is better for it. These are just a handful of the stories that surrounded me that morning.

I was sitting among many Proclaim leaders because one of their colleagues, the Rev. Tita Valeriano, was presiding at the service.  Just a few seats down was the Rev. Guy Erwin. Just four short years ago, our own church policies prevented both Tita and Guy from being recognized as ELCA clergy. And due to their faithfulness and the persistence and faithfulness of many before them and alongside them, these leaders can now do the ministry to which they were called. And I believe that the church has and will continue to change as a result.

The 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly was a powerful experience because of moments like these. I was deeply grateful to be there to show my gratitude for the leadership of Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson and to recognize where he has led this denomination. And I’m thrilled to welcome Bp. Elizabeth Eaton as Presiding Bishop!

I couldn’t agree more with Presiding Bishop Elect Elizabeth Eaton’s words that she shared in a press conference following the election: “The election of the woman to the office of presiding bishop is a fulfillment of his ministry of making this church a welcoming place,” [Eaton] said.

We’re still on a journey and there is a long way to go before the diverse gifts of all are recognized. But we’re on our way. I’m thankful for the prophetic vision and witness of LGBTQ pastors, their congregations & ministries, and the ELM donors who support this work.

One of the best parts of the 2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly has been seeing Proclaim leaders in all kinds of settings. I’ve counted 17 Proclaim leaders in attendance.

At opening worship on Monday night, I caught a glimpse of the Rev. Jason Bense serving as a communion minister. The same night (and at all worship services since), I’ve seen the Rev. Steve Wilco busy in his capacity as a member of the ELCA Worship Team. There are a number of Proclaim leaders who are here as voting members. Proclaim members Tim Feiertag , the Rev. Anita Hill, and Rose Beeson have been VERY busy all week as members of the ReconcilingWorks staff and volunteer Legislative Team. We heard the Rev. Guy Erwin preach tonight at the ReconcilingWorks-ELM worship service and we’ll hear the Rev. Tita Valierano preside at the ELCA worship service on Friday morning. And from my vantage point in the Visitors’ Section, I’ve gotten more than a few glimpses of Assembly floor volunteers Laura Kuntz and Sara Cogsil (pictured at left).

It’s wonderful to see all of the LGBTQ leaders serving their church in different ways. I’m especially moved by the service of Laura, Sara, and Angela Nelson – all three are approved for ordination and awaiting call. They are here on their own dime and staying at host homes (traveling over a half hour each morning to arrive for their 7:30 shifts!). They’re here because they wanted to witness the Churchwide Assembly and be of service.

These are the leaders you are supporting through your investment in Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. It’s been a big week. We give thanks for the wonderful leadership of out-going Presiding Bp. Mark Hanson and welcome Bp. Elect Elizabeth Eaton. I’m thrilled that ELM and Proclaim have been here to witness and be part of all of it.

Next week’s ELCA Churchwide Assembly will include a number of Proclaim members performing a variety of roles – from voting members to iPad tech support to the ELCA Worship Team to working with ReconcilingWorks  to staffing an Assembly floor mic, these LGBTQ rostered leaders and seminarians have got it covered. Of particular note will be the worship on Friday, August 16, which marks the first time an openly lesbian or gay pastor will preside during an ELCA Churchwide Assembly Worship Service.

by Brenda Bos, Proclaim Communications Team

When Proclaim member Rev. Teresita “Tita” Valeriano presides at communion during the Friday worship of Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh next week, people will see her in a variety of ways. Some will see an ordained minister, some will see a woman, some will see a Filipino immigrant, some will see a Mission Developer. Some will see a partnered gay mother of a newborn. While Valeriano is all those things, she believes “first and foremost I am a child of God.” Humbled to have been asked to preside at this national church event, she considers herself “not put in a position of power, but that of servanthood, of being able to be a part of God’s feast that Christ is hosting.”

Pastor Tita’s History
Pastor Tita gives thanks for the journey. “To have been born in the Philippines, a third generation Lutheran and the youngest in a family of twelve children, to be born with all the gifts and weaknesses that I have, everything of who I am and now serving in this context of North America; those, I believe, are gifts of God to me. Of course I did not choose my gender, or my nationality, or my sexual orientation, but I have been honored to be a participant in this journey God has given me, to live out these gifts.”

This journey has had many twists and turns. Pastor Tita received a degree in accounting and a second degree in church music before coming to the United States in 1994 to pursue her masters of divinity from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. Her first congregational call was in central California, followed by a four-year stint in Geneva, Switzerland, as the Secretary for Youth in Church and Society for the Lutheran World Federation.

Those years in Europe and North America brought hard lessons about race and gender. Pastor Tita notes that until she arrived in the United States, she did not think of herself in racial terms; she had to learn to be a “minority” in the new culture. “No one in the Southern Hemisphere ever asked me how I got my job, as though I didn’t deserve my position. That only happened in North America and Europe,” Pastor Tita explained. She came back to California to serve as the Lutheran campus pastor at USC in 2004, where she met her partner, Jennifer Snow. She then returned to the Lutheran World Federation in 2008 as the Regional Officer, relocating to the churchwide offices in Chicago.

Immigration Injustice
Pastor Tita had applied for her permanent residency (green card) in 2004, leading to an eight year quest for a green card. The couple ran into the injustices so many bi-cultural same-sex couples face;. Until the recent Supreme Court decision, United States citizens could not sponsor their same-sex partners for green cards, and Tita’s original employment-based petition for a green card was denied in 2009. Pastor Tita was in Canada for work when Jennifer received notification of the denial. Jennifer packed their apartment and came to Canada while the two of them tried to figure out what to do next. During this time, the ELCA assisted in Pastor Tita’s legal battles, including the expense of requesting a new visa and she was able to return and receive a green card two and a half years later, just before Christmas 2012. And recently, she and Jennifer welcomed their son Taal Charles into the world, on July 15, 2013. Pastor Tita notes, “I am grateful for the help I received when so many other immigrants continue to struggle for their rights to be a family.” She continues to do extensive work and organizing among the immigrant community in the Bay Area while she completes an assessment of a potential new mission start.

Leading At The Table
Now she will lead the church she loves at the table. “Hopefully this is a sign that we are telling God’s story, no matter what it will cost us. It is important to me that this is really a statement of the gospel, and that we are taking it seriously. This not just a matter of selecting those who are the most oppressed among us on this perfect occasion and then letting ordinary life and ordinary oppression run our lives together when the event is over. We need to hold ourselves accountable as a church to the statement that we are making when someone like me is at the table.”

Pastor Tita’s witness and proclamation to the whole ELCA is part of Proclaim’s mission. Proclaim is a ministry of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, providing affirmation and support to Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ. Members of Proclaim serve in a variety of ministry contexts in North America and beyond, spreading the gospel and loving the neighbor. We look forward to celebrating more of our Proclaim members’ stories in future months.

See you at Churchwide!

Brenda Bos conversed on the phone and over email last week with Tita before writing this profile about her.  Brenda recently completed her internship at St. Paul Lutheran in Santa Monica, CA and is approved for ordination in the Southwest California Synod of the ELCA. Both Bos and Valeriano are members of Proclaim, the professional community for Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ. Proclaim is a ministry of ELM.

Will you be at the  2013 ELCA Churchwide Assembly August 12-17 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania? ELM’s Executive Director Amalia Vagts and many Proclaim members will be attending the Assembly. If you would like to meet up with Amalia or other ELM supporters, send her an email: Director@elm.org.

Additionally, our movement partner ReconcilingWorks has a full schedule of activities and programs lined up- check their website here. ReconcilingWorks advocates for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church and congregations. You can get involved with their efforts through their website.

Some Highlights:

Festival Eucharist (Hosted by ReconcilingWorks and ELM)
Wednesday, August 14, 8:00 pm
Omni William Penn Hotel, Grand Ballroom
Join in festive worship and celebration of LGBTQ church leaders and allies with the Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin, bishop-elect of the Southwest California Synod, preaching, and the Rev. Dean Nelson, bishop of the Southwest California Synod, presiding.

Reception with Bishop-Elect Guy Erwin (Hosted by ReconcilingWorks)
Tuesday, August 13, 8:00 pm
Convention Center, Room 408
The election of the Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin marks two historic firsts: the first openly gay and first Native American bishop of the ELCA. Guy is a member of Proclaim, the professional community for Lutheran pastors, rostered lay leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.

Rev. Tita Valeriano Presiding on Friday, August 8th. 

We are very excited and joyful that the Rev. Teresita Valeriano will preside at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly worship on Friday morning! Tita is a member of Proclaim. ELM will be posting and in-depth interview with Tita next week!

Follow ELM at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly through out social media channels:  Facebook and Twitter

ELM’s executive director Amalia Vagts wrote the “My View” contribution for the August 2013 edition of The Lutheran.

The August edition contains articles about the first twenty-five years of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Amalia writes about attending the first ELCA Youth Gathering (in 1988), the history of LGBTQ rostered leaders in the ELCA, and the new life these leaders are bringing to the church. 

Full article here. 

Proclaim member Rev. Mark Erson of St. John’s Lutheran Church in New York City spoke at the Pride Rally this year.  Mark has been pastor at St. John’s since 2011 and is married to his high school sweetheart Scott Jordan.

Ten minutes before Mark took the stage at the Pride Rally he was told a surprise guest would be coming on after – Lady Gaga. 

Watch a video of Mark at the Pride Rally here. 

Of the experience Mark shared: “Yup, met her back stage and then went out and had a ball speaking to the crowd.”

Proclaim is the professional community for Lutheran pastors, rostered lay leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.  Proclaim is a program of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. 

One of the six ministry grant programs Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries is supporting this year is couples enrichment retreats in Fairview, North Carolina. Proclaim member Rev. David Eck is leading portions of the retreat. Proclaim is the professional community for Lutheran pastors, rostered lay leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.  Proclaim is a program of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. 

Below David shares updates on the programs progress:

In 2012 the taskforce that guided Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Fairview, NC through the Reconciling in Christ process met to talk about how we could expand our ministry with the LGBT community.  Rather than duplicate what other churches and organizations are doing in our area we discerned that no one was doing any LGBT couples ministry in a church setting.

Thanks to a grant from ELM, our dream has come true.  Our first LGBT couples retreat was held on Saturday, May 11 with 12 couples in attendance.  The retreat was led by Rev. David Eck who did the worship and Bible study portions of the day, along with his partner Gary Mitchell, who did the music.  Rev. Stacey Jaudon, a licensed pastoral counselor and her partner, led the relationship building sessions.

Our next couples retreat is in October 26th.  Our church has a booth at Blue Ridge Pride several weeks before the retreat.  We hope to meet lots of new people there and spread the word!  Myself  and the members of Abiding Savior would like to thank those who helped make this grant possible.  Without your support this retreat would not have happened.

– Rev. David Eck