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A Milwaukee-area congregation says it has voted overwhelmingly to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over its decision to allow gay clergy.
Calvary Lutheran Church in Brookfield must wait at least 90 days after this week's vote and discuss its position with the Rev. Jeff Barrow, bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, before cutting its ties with the ELCA, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Kevin Wahlgren, president of the Calvary church council, said that given the lopsided 185-40 vote the congregation is unlikely to have a change of heart during the waiting period. He said Calvary members oppose not only the 2009 decision that gays and lesbians can become Lutheran ministers but also feel the ELCA, the largest Lutheran group in the United States, has turned to much toward a "social justice" agenda.
The ELCA reports that 395 congregations have either severed their ties with the church or held a first vote to do so in the past year.
Wahlgren said Calvary has not decided where to seek a new home. It has begun discussions with North American Lutheran Church, which is made up of former ELCA congregations that objected to gay clergy, and the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, which formed in 2000 and now has about 500 congregations.
UPI
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