The more information and viewpoints, the better

You'll find the original comment excerpted below here. It's dated September 27 at 10:26 p.m. I wanted to respond to a few points.

Anonymous said ...

The ELCA is dying. So is every other denomination. They have dropped over a million members in twenty years and now the decline is accelerating. The ELCA leaders keep saying only a few hundred have left, but every weekend five to ten more churches vote to leave, and it keeps accelerating... check this blog out,

http://davidbarnhart.blogspot.com/

Just last weekend almost 20 more voted to leave!

This is a very good resource for discussion.  I would point out that our pastors fall on this side of the argument as well.  I would think exposure of this type of information would be beneficial to all of us to have at our disposal, but we also need information from the other side of the same amount and from a recognized authority.  This is exactly what I would like to see from both sides of this argument.

Anonymous said ...
This is not to mention the churches that have split, like in Fountain Hills. The true damage is not churches leaving, it is the ones closing their doors as members walk and people split. Sad the ECLA has decided politics and social issues are more important than preaching the bible.

Again, I would argue that the interpretation of “importance” of issues and exactly what “preaching the Bible”  means are at the heart of this issue.  I have a real difficulty with excluding people from things due to anthropological traits, and I suppose that would be where I differ with an awful lot of folk.  I understand that, but then I have something much more authoritative than everyday scriptural text:  The words of Christ’ commandment to us all as Christians.  I can’t get away from the feeling that to exclude means that we are walking away from, not closer to Jesus Christ.  And that bothers me immensely.

Anonymous said ...
As for you getting a larger number to vote, good luck. Judging that you have a grand total of less than 1% of the membership voting here, I don't think that will happen.

Thanks for the well wishes.  We’ve had nearly 2,300 views of this blog, so somebody is paying attention.  And as far as our count is concerned, I wouldn’t even consider that a sampling worth considering.  It is what it is, and people who view our site have left the posts, but not necessarily their vote, so I’m not concerned in the least.  Thanks again for your post, and providing meaningful information.

Please remember to be present at the November 7 congregational meeting and vote your conscience.  Yours in service to Christ, Tom.