COLUMBUS, Ga. – A Columbus Lutheran church has voted to remain in its denomination, on the heels of a decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that allows gays who have partners to be ordained.
St. Matthew Lutheran Church members voted 99 to 54 last Sunday to stay in the ELCA – the largest Lutheran group in the country.
The vote came about five months after the denomination’s Churchwide Assembly passed measures to allow for partnered, committed and monogamous gay clergy to serve in the denomination. The national decision is not binding on congregations.
The Rev. Larry Barksdale, St. Matthew’s senior pastor, had encouraged the congregation to leave the larger body. At least four Georgia congregations have voted to leave the national church, as have several other individual ELCA churches nationwide.