A onetime mission congregation of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hixson has united with a new national Lutheran denomination created last month by many disaffected Evangelical Lutheran Church in America members.
Faith Lutheran, which began almost three years as Trinity Lutheran Church of Jasper, Tenn., was one of the 20 pioneer congregations accepted at the establishment of the North American Lutheran Church at a meeting in Grove City, Ohio.
Jon McKenzie, worship leader of the new church, which now meets in Chattanooga, said the ELCA has backed away from a strict interpretation of the Bible.
"If it's what the Bible says, that's what we go with," he said. "It's not up to any human being."
The breaking point, according to many in the new denomination, was the ELCA's 2009 decision to bless gay marriages and allow noncelibate gays and lesbians to serve as clergy, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States to do so.
"You can't separate the two," said McKenzie. "It's not that we are homophobic or anti-gay. "If someone [homosexual] wants to worship with us, we don't exclude them. We are all sinners, and we welcome everybody. It's the direction of all that. We couldn't go on with that. It was more the fact they were getting man involved in deciding what the Scriptures said instead of accepting it as the word of God."
The Rev. Gary Schimmer, pastor of Trinity Lutheran in Hixson, said the clergy issue still divides some in his congregation who have "agreed to disagree and move forward with the gospel of Christ's love."
After discussing the issue for several months, the church voted to remain in the ELCA in March. It also withdrew funds from its mission church, which stood united against the same-sex decisions.
Schimmer acknowledged, though, the church has lost members, leadership and income over the issue but said the rest of the members are "determined to renew congregational ministries" and do what can be done to revive the church.
He said many people still have a mistaken understanding of parts of what the 2009 decisions meant.
Otherwise qualified ministers in same-sex relationships, he said, must be judged by the office of their resident bishop to be in monogamous, lifelong partnerships.
In addition, said Schimmer, local congregations still have the final determination over who leads their church. They can still say "we want this person and not that person," he said.
"The bishop does not have the authority to place candidates," he said.
The ELCA, according to an article in the Christian Post, saw its largest ever drop in membership in 2009. Despite that, it remains the largest Lutheran denomination with 10,239 churches and about 4.5 million members.
In the Chattanooga area, the ELCA has four total congregations in Chattanooga, Hixson, Ooltewah and Dalton, Ga. The more conservative Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) denomination has six congregations in Chattanooga and Cleveland.
The Rev. Jonathan Horsman, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, which is affiliated with the the Missouri Synod, said his congregation has had people both visit and join recently who were members of ELCA congregations. He said his denomination has many things in common with the newly formed NALC such as the "preeminence of the word of God" and the "inerrancy of Scripture."
While glad to have new parishioners, he said, "whenever the body of Christ splits and separates, it's a painful process. We're praying the spirit of God will heal spirits and ill feelings."
In early August, according to the Associated Press, 199 congregations had voted to leave the ELCA, and 136 awaited a second vote to make it official.
The next closest NALC congregation to Chattanooga, according to its website, is Word of Life Lutheran Church in Maryville, Tenn.
McKenzie said Faith Lutheran has 18 official members and has had an attendance of as many as 25. But he said the Chattanooga area is a large mission field.
"We're small," he said, "but we knew we would be when we started."
He said the church potentially could draw from other disaffected ELCA members, from other Lutheran bodies and the area as a whole.
"There's plenty of people to reach out to," he said.