Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) announces the 2009 Joel Raydon Workin Memorial Scholar. This year’s recipient is Julie Boleyn. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries provides the $1,000 scholarship to an Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries seminary student who embodies a gospel-centered passion for justice and devotion to faith in Jesus Christ.

“Julie Boleyn exemplifies the academic and pastoral qualities and courage so characteristic of Joel Workin, and looks to be a strong future clergy leader in this church.” Greg Egertson, Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholarship chair.

Julie Boleyn is a third-year student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Chicago. She recently completed an internship at Faith Lutheran Church in Chicago. Julie lives in Chicago with her partner, Jeanie Reardon, and their daughter Madelyn.

Twenty years ago when Joel Workin came out as a gay, Lutheran seminarian, he and several others helped spark the current movement supporting openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) persons in ordained ministry. Following Joel’s courageous and faithful act, his certification for ordination was vacated when Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) bishops refused to place his name on the roster of approved candidates waiting for call. The Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholarship was established in 1995 by the generosity of Joel’s family, colleagues and close friends. Boleyn is the third recipient of the scholarship.

“Twenty years and ten Churchwide assemblies later, the same policy of mandatory celibacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy that excluded Joel Workin and so many others still stands. Yet, there can be no doubt that God is calling the gifts and graces of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities into the church’s life and mission – people like Julie Boleyn, an ELM candidate for ordained ministry who has shown tremendous gifts of intelligence and compassion.” Rev. Erik Christensen, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries co-chair.

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries will publicly award the scholarship to Boleyn at an awards dinner in Minneapolis on August 20.

“I am honored and humbled to receive this award. Joel Raydon Workin claimed his sexuality openly, honestly, and without apology. His courage and conviction has made it possible for me to follow my own calling with integrity. I am deeply grateful for his witness.” Julie Boleyn, 2009 Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholar.

The Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholarship supports seminarians who have been admitted into the Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries candidacy process; and encourages them to persevere in their preparation for ordained ministry. The recipients must be enrolled as an openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender student, have demonstrated gifts for Word and Sacrament ministry, and seeks to fulfill their vocations as publicly identified sexual minority persons. The recipients demonstrate academic excellence, integrity and courage in response to the ELCA’s discriminatory policies, a passion for social justice, faithfulness to Jesus Christ and potential to become an effective leader in church and society. The early witness of Joel Workin and several other gay seminarians led to a larger movement within the Lutheran Church. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, a result of this witness, credentials and rosters openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people for ministry; supports these pastors by working with congregations that will call them and providing mission grants to support their ministry; and provides a network of support to the congregations and pastors.

Next week, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will hold its biennial Churchwide Assembly. Among many other items, the Assembly will discuss the proposed Social Statement on Sexuality and accompanying Ministry Recommendations. Our partner organization, Lutherans Concerned/North America has been organizing for months with several other groups as the coalition Goodsoil. Learn more about their work–or volunteer–at goodsoil.org. While we strongly support the work of Goodsoil, ELM is not actively involved in the coalition. It is our calling to live out the fully inclusive future we all imagine for the church.

ELM Executive Director Amalia Vagts will be at the Assembly all week to attend sessions, meet with supporters, and bear witness to this part of the ELCA’s journey. Many members of the ELM Roster will also be there to participate in Goodsoil worship activities and as Goodsoil volunteers. ELM Roster member Rev. Megan Rohrer will be on street retreat throughout the Assembly, living on the streets and blogging about her experience. You can follow along at mystreetreatreat.blogspot.com.

We invite all Twin Cities area friends to attend the Goodsoil worship service on Wednesday, Aug 19 at Central Lutheran Church.

ELM will be sending updates via Twitter about Assembly actions and ELM-related news throughout Churchwide! Follow us @ELM2649. You can search all ELM/Churchwide related tweets by searching “#ELM #CWA09”. If you have never used Twitter, here’s a reason to check it out–if you are a person who sends and receives text messages on your phone, within minutes you can be set up on Twitter and receive our updates via text message.

“See” you there!

On Sunday, July 19, supporters of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries gathered at the LGBT Center on Halsted in Chicago to celebrate the opening of the ELM Headquarters in Chicago, learn more about ELM’s work and raise funds for the organization. Five area congregations (Ebenezer Lutheran, Grace Evanston Lutheran, Holy Trinity, Resurrection and St. Luke Lutheran of Logan Square) and individual supporters gathered for appetizers, beverages and conversation. Dazzling Bouquet committee members (pictured) included chair Timothy Schannep, Tony Garcia, Rev. Jen Rude, Dale Hoiberg, David Foster, Amalia Vagts, Luigi Aguilar, Drew Knobloch, Dick Tribble, Rachael Johnson, and Rev. Erik Christensen.

ELM will host Dazzling Bouquet, an afternoon of socializing with Chicago-area ELM supporters, on Sunday, July 19 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. The event is at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago, IL (Chicago’s LGBT Center).

Socializing, dazzling appetizers, summer drinks & a festive live & silent auction!
•Hand made baby quilt
•Organic locally grown feast for four
•Two tickets to a live taping of ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me’ & autographed items
•Unique pastoral services from some of Chicago’s leading GLBT Lutheran pastors

Tickets are $35-$50 per person.

RSVP or Questions? Please contact Rachael Johnson 773-235-0610 or operations@elm.org

Earlier this month, Pastor Erik Christensen (ELM Co-Chair) was elected by members of the Central Conference of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod to serve as their dean. Pastor Erik serves as lead pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church of Logan Square.

According to the synod’s constitution, deans serve to assist the conference with goalsetting, build and maintain collegial relationships between and among clergy in the conference, and act as a channel for communication between the synod and the local parish.

Pastor Erik shares that the sturggles of many parishes in the Central Conference mirror the struggles he faces at St. Luke’s.

“Many of these congregations face declining membership, rapidly changing communities and the need to proclaim the good news of God’s inclusive, justice-creating love in fresh ways to their neighbors,” writes Christensen.

Pastor Erik is the first ELM-rostered clergy person called to serve in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, and has been serving St. Luke’s since October, 2006.

In May, we wrote that Pastor Jay Wiesner had been elected by members of the Central Philadelphia conference. At the request of his bishop, Pastor Jay has stepped down from that position, due to his status as an ELM-rostered pastor.

Interested congregations and ministries network call:

This Saturday there will be an Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries conference call for all interested congregations and ministries to network with each other and discover more information about the different ways of supporting ELM. Folks on the call will also be informed of the Covenant for Congregations Affiliating with ELM.

This call is geared toward lay people. This is not a decision-making call; it is an information sharing and relationship building call. It will provide an opportunity for those working in congregations or ministries that have ELM leadership or those who have opened their call process to ELM leadership to have sense of their partnership with one another across the nations.

Call:

Saturday, June 27

9:00 a.m. pacific; 11:00 central and 12:00 noon eastern.

If you would like to join the call, please send an email with your name and congregation or ministry to info@elm.org and we will send you the call-in information.

Thank you!

Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries was blessed by the involvement and commitment of Arnold Tiemeyer.

Arnold passed away Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2009 from cancer. Arnold served most recently as chair of the East Coast Candidacy Panel and was a devoted supporter of the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people called to ordained ministry in the Lutheran church.

We celebrate Arnold’s life and all he did to make the Church a truly welcoming place. We express our sadness and prayers to his partner, Betsy, and their family.

A full obituary can be found here.

-Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries Covenant Circle-

The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, the ballot measure that banned same-sex marriages in the state, by a 6-1 vote Tuesday, May 26. But the seven justices unanimously ruled that the 18,000 marriages that took place during the five months before the ban went into effect last November are still valid under California law.

An article in the Bay Area Reporter by Matthew Bajko (link to the full article there) mentioned a faith service at ELM congregation St. Francis Lutheran Church and included quotes by ELM pastor Dawn Roginski:

Bajko writes: “This morning it was LGBT ministers who led a service at St. Francis Lutheran Church in the gay Castro District to pray for justice and to also offer a prayer of protection to those individuals planning to participate in the civil disobedience actions.

Following the service, a group of 125 people marched from the Church Street sanctuary to join those in the Civic Center. Wearing T-shirts that said “Separate is not Equal,” they walked behind a rainbow-colored banner that said “Faith Demands Justice.”

“We plan to occupy Van Ness at Grove until we get arrested,” said Kip Williams, one of the organizers of the protest.

The Reverend Dawn Roginksi, the lesbian pastor at St. Francis, said she planned to join the demonstration in order to “stand on the side of equality and the side of love.”

“We can not stand by and let well-funded conservative voices be the only voices hear din California,” said Roginski.”

Read the full article here: http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3942

Read the Supreme Court ruling here: www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts

California’s Supreme Court has upheld a ban on same-sex marriage.

ELM pastors Rev. Dawn Roginski and Pastor Megan Rohrer are featured in many photographs protesting the decision.
Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.

As you recover from Ascension Day activities and look forward to a long Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to point you towards a study released this week: Mainline Protestant Clergy Views on Theology and Gay and Lesbian Issues: Findings from the 2008 Clergy Voices Survey

You can read the study by clicking here.

Or if that doesn’t work, copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://tinyurl.com/os4ss8

Happy reading!