Messiah University LGBT

LGBTQ Concerns Prompt ELCA Lutheran Synod Move from Messiah University

Jeffrey Walton on December 3, 2021

A regional body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is relocating a major gathering from the campus of an evangelical Christian university based upon LGBT objections.

“At its meeting on November 20, 2021, the Synod Council voted not to hold our assembly at Messiah University, due to a conflict between that institution’s recent public controversy regarding LGBTQIA+ students and the Lower Susquehanna Synod’s status as Reconciling in Christ,” read a December 1 email from Synod Secretary Beth A. Schlegel to congregations and rostered ministers.

Reconciling in Christ is a program of ReconcilingWorks (formerly Lutherans Concerned) that recognizes 883 LGBT-affirming congregations and Lutheran organizations. The Lower Susquehanna Synod sought a Reconciling in Christ designation from ReconcilingWorks in 2016.

The ECLA’s Lower Susquehanna Synod had been scheduled to convene its annual assembly on June 3-4, 2022. The event will be potentially postponed as an alternative location is sought. 

I reached out to retired Messiah University Professor Dean Curry, past chair of IRD’s Board of Directors, for context. Curry noted that the annual ELCA conference is large and has been hosted on the school’s Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, campus across many years. The synod assembly was last held in person in June 2019.

Like many colleges and universities, Messiah hosts conferences and camps during the summer months. They are important revenue boosters during months when most students aren’t on campus.

Messiah University is not among the 26 ELCA colleges and universities. It was founded by the Brethren in Christ Church in 1909 as Messiah Bible School and Missionary Training Home.

The University’s Sexuality and Relationships Policy affirms Christian marriage “to be the union of one man and one woman and that human sexuality should be understood within this framework.”

The policy states that students who experience same sex attraction or identify as gay or lesbian are expected to refrain from “same sex sexual expression” as it is embodied in culturally contextual practices (e.g., identifying as a couple or exhibiting expressions of physical intimacy).

Deacon Marsha Roscoe, Assistant to the Bishop for the Lower Susquehanna Synod, confirmed that Schlegel’s email to congregations serves as the Synod statement regarding the decision. Roscoe pointed to the Synod’s welcome statement adopted by the Synod Council, which reads, “We welcome with full participation and inclusion all who are seeking God’s love and grace. We welcome all because God welcomes all, regardless of race or culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, or relationship status.”

The ELCA is the mainline Protestant Lutheran body ministering in the United States. As of 2020, the denomination’s summary of congregational statistics reported 3,142,777 baptized members across 8,894 congregations.

Lutheran predecessor bodies counted approximately 6 million members in 1968, dropping to 5.3 million in 1988 when the denominations merged. From 2000-2010, the ELCA declined by 851,064 members, a decrease of approximately 19.9%. Across the last reporting decade the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has lost more than 1 million members or 25% of membership, this follows a 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly vote to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors “living in committed relationships.”

In September the ELCA became the first mainline Protestant denomination to install a bishop who identifies as transgender.

In 2019 the ELCA Office of Research and Evaluation projected that the entire denomination will have fewer than 67,000 members in 2050, with fewer than 16,000 attending worship on an average Sunday by 2041.

Request for comment sent on Wednesday to the Messiah University Office of Communications was not returned at the time of publication. This article will be updated if a response is received.

  1. Comment by Tom on December 3, 2021 at 5:50 pm

    Thank you for publishing the historical membership totals. They are spiraling downhill just about as fast as the PCUSA. Trying to ape secular culture is a death sentence for Christian churches.

    Of course, the joke about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is that the only thing that is true in its name is that it is “in America.”

  2. Comment by Reynolds on December 3, 2021 at 9:05 pm

    Wow. This is a brutal projection of numbers. This is worse than what the PCUSA believes is their future. If they believe this is the future, you would think they would want to change course but I guess this by design. The rest will try to destroy orthodox churches in 30 years

  3. Comment by Star Tripper on December 3, 2021 at 9:59 pm

    Working diligently to promote policies that are antithetical to the Bible and destructive to the Church. Now who would want such a thing? I wonder.

  4. Comment by John E on December 3, 2021 at 11:56 pm

    Uh, I think the words “Missouri Synod” do not belong in.the title.

  5. Comment by John E on December 3, 2021 at 11:57 pm

    Never mind, I misread.

  6. Comment by David on December 4, 2021 at 6:47 am

    Churches will all experience the same when they choose to reflect a secular rather than a historic Biblical world view. Cloaked in pseudo-religious terms is a secular movement that will eventually reduce churches to no more than additional community clubs. Meanwhile, churches and universities that stand on Scripture will be attacked and struggle but would rather remain faithful than carnal.

  7. Comment by George on December 4, 2021 at 9:41 am

    Scripture, reason and history would indicate this is not the REAL church but false teachers that divide the body. Siding WITH biblically condemned belief and activity and AGAINST those embracing biblical worldview and behavior is pretty conclusive evidence these are NOT Christians. And – they are NOT “liberals.” Liberals are inclusive, considerate and open to the ideas and beliefs of others. These are clearly LEFTISTS who just the opposite. I wish we could all quit making this misidentification and shooting ourselves in the foot, but it seems to be an indelibly ubiquitous error. I’m expect Satan fosters it. Well…he doesn’t need our help!

  8. Comment by George on December 4, 2021 at 9:45 am

    Being Lutheran does not make one authentically Christian, as these folks demonstrate. And they’re not “liberal” but “leftist.” These are opposites but we keep getting it wrong in our erroneous use of terms. Satan does not need our help!

  9. Comment by Bruce on December 4, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    During the 2009 assembly in Minneapolis, following the tornado which damaged a portion of the building we were meeting in, and left the 80 year old cross dangling upside down from its metal spire on Central Lutheran Church directly across the street (which was promoting LGBT activities), the ELCA “leadership” attempted to suggest “the weather” should have no correlation with the ongoing sexuality discussion. https://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/belief-blog/2009/aug/19/the-lutherans-and-the-tornado/

    AND is most obvious, the ELCA continues their supposed “welcoming all” statements as noted in this article — “welcoming” so long as you march to their secular drum beat! I’ve lost track of how many pastors have been kicked out — “defrocked” — even though we as long time ordained pastors supposedly were allowed “bound conscience” — allowed to hold to the very bedrock ideals of our beliefs and faith in God’s Word, its basic moral boundaries and orthodox Lutheran confessions.

    “The ELCA” has been in a downward death spiral ever since, just as an aviator spinning earthward in an out of control spin! Ultimately, impact is imminent… unless the control is regained. And as an aviator, I fail to see any signs of attempting to recover from that tightening death spiral. It’s excruciating having to converse with members of small ELCA congregations’ members who are perplexed and most frustrated — feeling betrayed and left with few options as to where to worship within the Lutheran confessions and Word of God they grew up with and trained their children in. For many it’s been a very difficult choice to change to another denomination if there are no other orthodox confessing Lutheran denominations nearby. AND now with Methodism going down the same deadly path, the choices are even fewer! May Messiah University be a shining light on the hill for many…

  10. Comment by Joan Sibbald.. on December 5, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    Two groups control the culture: feminists and LGBTQ. Their god is “Self!”
    Satan smiles………..

  11. Comment by Wayne on December 8, 2021 at 12:18 am

    The ELCA is similar to the Titanic. The iceberg it hit is secularism and the God-fearing Christians have already exited in the available lifeboats, leaving the rest to go down with the ship. One would think the leadership would considered this death spiral as a wake up call to resuscitate the dying patient. STAT! For whom the bell tolls, it tolls for ELCA. RIP.

  12. Comment by Leo on December 10, 2021 at 9:51 am

    Odd how some Christians define the validity of their faith and doctrine by its cultural popularity, as reflected in membership counts. As if the Gospel is defined by the assent of humans, who happen to look, love, and behave just the same way we do.

    It’s not. God is greater than all of us. It is easy to love those who look, love, and behave the same. But, “you were a stranger in Egypt…” too.

  13. Comment by Steve on December 17, 2021 at 9:32 am

    There’s a difference between being somewhat unpopular and headed towards extinction.
    History has some examples of people who held unpopular but true beliefs.
    Such as Galileo.
    But history has many more examples of groups that held unpopular but wrong beliefs that eventually destroyed them.
    Such as Jonestown.
    Is there any part of the Bible involving LGBT+ marriages or ordinations in Egypt? Didn’t think so.

The work of IRD is made possible by your generous contributions.

Receive expert analysis in your inbox.