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Jesus' mission or Maslow's needs?
by Jaynan Clark Egland, president WordAlone

It doesn't take too long or too deep a study into human psychology, sociology, anthropology or any of the other studies of human beings and their basic needs and desires before one realizes that there is a plethora of opinions out there regarding human behavior and what drives us....more.

Compelled by Christ's Love
The Anglican Network in Canada is providing a home for Anglican churches that have determined they can no longer remain within the Anglican Church of Canada because of its departure from traditional Anglican teaching. On April 25-26, members of the Network will be gathering near Vancouver for a conference of celebration and commissioning “Compelled by Christ's Love”.
http://www.anglicannetwork.ca/conference_0408_info.htm

The Network’s new Archbishop, the Most Reverend Gregory Venables, Archbishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, will be coming up from Buenos Aires and, as well, several other leaders of the global Anglican Communion will be participating. The Network is inviting friends from other Christian traditions, including Solid Ground, to join them on Saturday afternoon, April 26, for a time of celebration, expressing gratitude to God for the mighty work He has begun with the Network. Pastor Ed Skutshek, President of Solid Ground and a few other representatives of Solid Ground will be joining in this celebration. more....

BC Synod Proposes Radical Changes to Model Congregational Constitution
A model constitution for congregations in the BC Synod appears in the Bulletin of Reports for the 2008 BC Synod Convention. In comparison with the ELCIC’s “Approved Model Constitution for Congregations” the version proposed by the BC Synod Council for use in the BC Synod contains some radical changes…More

BC Synod to Push Sexuality Issues at Upcoming Convention

The BC Synod’s Faith and Society Committee will be bringing two motions related to the controversial sexuality issues before this church to the BC Synod’s upcoming Convention to be held April 17-20 in Kelowna [1].
 
The first motion from the Faith and Society Committee that the delegates to the BC Synod Convention will be asked to consider is: “Be it moved that the BC Synod affirm that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities share the worth that comes from being created by God and are welcomed into the full life of the synod”......
 
The parceling of the ‘welcome’ motion together with a second motion encouraging congregations to become Lutherans Concerned ‘Reconciling in Christ’ (RIC) congregations (“We as a synod encourage congregations to go through the process of study which will enable them to consider becoming a Reconciling in Christ Congregation”.) further reveals the true intent of the first motion.

These motion, if passed, have far-reaching implications of which we all, particularly delegates to that Synod, need to be aware.
More..........

 

The Unanswered Question
On October 19, 2007, Solid Ground informed you of a letter Dr. Lothar Schwabe had sent to all of the Bishops of our National Church. Dr. Schwabe asked them the serious question, "Did we preach a false gospel?" Considering the divergent teachings being advanced in our ELCIC, this seems like a pressing question. We put this letter on the web site only after Dr. Schwabe shared it because he had not received a single reply from any of the Bishops. About a two weeks ago, Dr. Schwabe sent out a new letter asking again for an answer to his inquiry. To read "The Unanswered Question".......more

To date he has heard nothing in reply to this correspondence, either. Is it necessary that we all take the time to write or email a note to the Bishops?

Draft ELCA Social Statement on Human Sexuality
Last week, the ELCA, our sister body in the U.S., released the draft of the long awaited Social Statement on Human Sexuality. The ELCA's congregations have been asked to study it, sending in their evaluations before November 1, 2008; the final draft is to be submitted to their Church Wide Assembly in 2009. It can be viewed or downloaded from this page <http://www.elca.org/faithfuljourney/>.
For the initial response of WordAlone leaders, see <http://www.wordalone.org/nr/newsrel01.shtml>.

This should be of particular interest to us in the ELCIC as it has been suggested that our own Task Force on Human Sexuality should draw freely from the work already done within the ELCA.An edited and adapted version of the ELCA's document "Journey Together Faithfully" for use in the Canadian context is to be ready by the fall 2008 for the use of the ELCIC as a study resource. http://elcic.ca/Human-Sexuality/default.cfm. According to the National Church Council report to the 2007 National Convention, a Canadian social statement to replace the 1970 document is expected  to be presented to the 2009 ELCIC National Convention.

Position Paper on Marriage
After changes to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that included the passing of Bill C250 in September of 2003, extending the list of minorities protected by hate crimes legislation to include “sexual orientation” and the subsequent changing of the definition of marriage, in 2005, to between “two people”, a statement of caution was sent out to churches from the Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF), “legal professionals in Canada serving Christ and others”.  In response to developments in the law and in answer to the question, “What, if anything, should churches do in response to possible federal same-sex marriage legislation?” the CLF recommended that churches may want to consider taking steps i) to review and/or amend their constitutional documentation and ii) to conduct a legal audit of all their policies and constitutional documents, as well as their liturgies and teaching materials.
With the ELCIC’s continuing attempts to alter our church body’s definition of marriage and/or policies regarding it, congregations may want to look closely at the Position Paper on Marriage recently adopted by the congregation of Grace Lutheran Church, Kelowna, BC.
More….

To read the complete rationale, follow this link:
http://www.gracelutherankelowna.com