Update of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality

June 27, 2006

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

This email update is one in a series to keep you informed about the activities of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality. Its purpose is to provide information so that you and those you serve will be well prepared to participate in the development of the proposed social statement on human sexuality.

As you are aware a draft social statement on human sexuality will be brought to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 2009. There are three major steps ELCA Lutherans will need to take together to reach that point:

1. Participate in a theological and substantive study of human sexuality and give response back to the task force (December 2006 - November 2007)

2. Receive a first draft of a social statement and respond to the task force (Spring 2007 - Fall 2008)

3. Receive and respond through synod council resolutions, memorials and Churchwide Assembly actions to the draft social statement which will come before the 2009 Churchwide Assembly (Spring 2009 - August 2009)

On the 2nd Sunday of Easter the task force wrapped up its spring meeting and authorized the general shape of step one above: the study on human sexuality. A group of task force writers is now at work on that task.

This study will be available on December 1, 2006, and will be available through the web as well as in hard copy. Hard copies may be pre-ordered through the Augsburg Fortress website by clicking [here].


Through this study, the task force hopes to offer a clear theological framework in which to carry out this discussion as a church of the Lutheran tradition. Through your responses to the study, the task force desires to gain a better sense of the concerns, issues and urgency of the ethical decisions facing faithful ELCA Lutherans on matters of human sexuality. It also hopes to probe the resources members call upon to make those decisions, and where they hope to find guidance from the church.
This is to be a study of human sexuality, and all of its gifts and challenges.

The task force hopes that every sector of the church will set aside time to engage in thoughtful reflection and moral deliberation using the study as a guide. We recommend that you plan for an educational setting such as a weekend retreat or a six to eight session format. The study booklet will include an accompanying bible study, which is integral to the study, and also usable on its own for synod assemblies, pastors' retreats, women's groups, youth events, and other gatherings.

Response forms, which will be available on paper and via the internet, are due sixteen months from now: November 1, 2007.

Undertaking the study and responding to the task force are the most important requests the task force will make of you for the next year and a half. It is only upon completion of the study that the task force will shape a first draft of a proposed social statement. That draft will then be broadly available throughout the church for many months for response.

It is finally then that the proposed social statement will be completed and considered by the ELCA Church Council in its April 2009 meeting for distribution in the church, for consideration at synod assemblies, and to be forwarded to the Churchwide Assembly for action.

As always you may visit the task force web site for updated and further information. www.elca.org/faithfuljourney. For your convenience we have attached to this email a time line which details the activities anticipated by the task force leading up to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.

However, the most important dates for you to remember and plan for at this time are December 1, 2006, and November 1, 2007.

On behalf of the members of the task force and the Churchwide staff who accompany them, I give thanks for your faithfulness and the blessing you are to the church. Let us hold one another in thoughtful prayer during these next years of moral deliberation on this important matter.

In Christ,

Rev. Rebecca Larson
Executive Director
Church in Society

__________________________________________

TASK FORCE FOR ELCA STUDIES ON SEXUALITY *
approximate time line as of June 2006

Note: As of June 2006 many of the details of the intersection of the social statement process with groups identified in the time line were not finalized. However the points of intersection are all included to indicate the variety of opportunities for consideration and input from various groups along the way. This time line will be updated periodically on the website www.elca.org/faithfuljourney.

2006

July/August: Task force writing team at work

September 15-17: Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality

October 5-8: Conference of Bishops receives report and engages in Galatians bible study

October 27-28: Church in Society Program Committee receives report and engages in Galatians bible study

November 10 - 12: ELCA Church Council receives report

December 1: Study on human sexuality published and distributed throughout the ELCA for discussion. Responses due November 1, 2007.

2007

January 3-5: Lutheran Ethicists respond to study

January 3-8: Conference of Bishops Academy

February 16-18: Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality

March 1-6: Conference of Bishops

March 16-17: Church in Society Program Committee engages in the study

April 13-16: ELCA Church Council

April-June: Synod Assemblies with opportunities to engage the study, including the Galatians bible study

August 14- 16: Association of Teaching Theologians

October 5-7: Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality

October 4-9: Conference of Bishops meets with task force

October 25-27: Church in Society Program Committee receives report

November 1st: Deadline for responses to study on human sexuality

November 9-11: ELCA Church Council receives report

2008

January 5-10: Conference of Bishops Academy

January : Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality
Completion of work on "1st Draft" of social statement

February: Church in Society Program Committee responds to "1st
Draft"

March: Distribution of "1st Draft" for discussion
throughout the ELCA.

March 6-11: Conference of Bishops

March to September: Task force holds hearings on "1st Draft"

April-June: Synod assemblies with opportunities to consider and respond to "1st Draft"

April 11-13: ELCA Church Council

October 2-7: Conference of Bishops

Mid October: Deadline for responses to "1st Draft"

November 14-17: ELCA Church Council

Fall: Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality

2009

Late January: Meeting of the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality
-
finalizes work on a proposed social
statement

January 3-8: Conference of Bishops Academy

February /March: Church in Society Program Committee responds to
text of
proposed social statement

March 5-10: Conference of Bishops

March 27-29: ELCA Church Council receives text of proposed social
statement and approves text for forwarding to Churchwide Assembly

April to June: Synods receive Church Council approved proposed social
statement in preparation for Churchwide Assembly. Opportunities to
respond
through memorials and synod council actions.

August: Churchwide Assembly considers proposed social
statement 2/3
majority required)