Many ELM friends are familiar with the book, “Dear God, I’m Gay — thank you!” which is a collection of Joel Workin’s writings.

On February 25, we will release the 2nd edition of this incredible collection of essays and sermons. The new edition features a new foreword by the Rev. Erik Christensen, as well as several never before published sermons, including the sermon Joel preached at the Rev. Jeff Johnson’s installation at First United Lutheran Church in 1990. Editor Michael Nelson has gone through stacks of material to select pieces for the new book. Joel’s parents, Betty and Ray Workin have generously underwritten the costs of the second edition and all proceeds will benefit LGBTQ seminarians.

Joel’s writings have been a resource to numerous LGBTQ rostered leaders and others. He embodied ELM’s core belief that the church is changed by leaders who are public about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

The book will be released at a special event in Santa Monica, CA on Saturday, Feb. 25 and available to the public immediately following.

Learn more about Joel Workin and the Joel R. Workin Memorial Endowment here.

Julie E. Boleyn will be ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament on January 14th at 3:00 p.m. at Unity Lutheran Church of Berwyn, located at 6720 W 31st, Berwyn, IL 60402. Your presence and prayers are requested. Clergy and other rostered leaders are invited to vest and process. The liturgical color of the day is red.

Bishop Wayne Miller, of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will preside.
The Rev. Dr. Melanie Morrison, Director of Allies for Change, will preach.

Ms. Julie Boleyn, who is originally from Oregon, graduated with a B.A. from The Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Wa, and with a M.Div. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. She entered seminary having worked in fundraising, and software development. She has also worked as the Vision Catalyst at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago, helping the congregation live into their mission statement. She is also the Financial Education Coordinator for the Stewards of Abundance Project at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and serves on the board of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. She and her partner, Jeanine Reardon, live in Berwyn with their daughter.

Join us in remembering the people, ministries and places our work impacted in 2011. You can skim the list, or pour a cup of tea and catch up on stories you missed from the year.

Read what YOU, our Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries community, have achieved in 2011.

 

Proclaim community created

In April, we launched the professional community for publicly-identified LGBTQ rostered leaders & seminarians. Proclaim now has over 80 members. You can check out the list here.

Over 60 LGBTQ rostered leaders & seminarians attended the first Proclaim retreat at Williams Bay, WI. ELM donors provided support for 18 seminarians to attend this retreat.

Registration opens next week for 2012 Proclaim retreat, ¡Vamos Tod@s!: April 18-21 in New York.

2012 Grants announced:

Thanks to your gifts, this year we had $62,000 to give to ministries across the country.

East Bay Lutheran Youth Program, Pastor Craig Minich

EcoFaith Recovery; Portland, OR; Innovative environmental ministry; Pastor Robyn Hartwig

Grace Lutheran Church; Houston, TX; Pastor Lura Groen

Welcome and Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies; San Francisco Bay Area; National program for LGBTQ homeless teens; Pastor Megan Rohrer and Pastor Dawn Roginski

St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, Edwin Weber (Intern)

St. Luke’s Lutheran of Logan Square; Pastor Erik Christensen

Pastor Cindy Crane, Anti-bullying ministry in South Central Synod of Wisconsin

Set-Aside for 2012 Seminarian Internships

2011 Workin Scholars:

We named two Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholars: Laura Kuntz and Emily Ewing.

In Memoriam:

Paul Egertson

Ginger Georgulas

Diane Nelson DeLange

Noteworthy Highlights:

Service of Reconciliation, Restoration and Reception at St. Francis Lutheran Church, San Francisco.

EcoFaith Recovery & ELM Celebration in Portland, OR.

Rev. Pieter Oberholzer, South Africa’s “Inclusive & Affirming Ministries” 2011 PRIDE Presentation in Chicago.

We celebrated our 4th year as Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries !

We have much to accomplish together in the coming year and look forward to our continued partnership. Here’s to 2012!

-Amalia Vagts

Executive Director

As I sat down for Christmas dinner with my partner, his three kids, their mom and their stepdad, I asked everyone to take a moment to share some words of gratitude for the year.

“But this isn’t Thanksgiving!” objected our 14-year-old.

“You’re right,” agreed his stepdad, smiling. “But Amalia didn’t say, ‘Give thanks.’  She said, ‘Gratitude,’ and that’s what this day is for.”

During this continuing season of Christmas and into the New Year celebration, many of us take time to slow down and reflect.  For me, this kind of reflection leads to a sense of abundance, grace, and gratitude.  And ever the optimist, I’m always ready to leave the difficulties of one year behind and start looking forward to the yet unknown joys of the year to come.

Part of the reason for this heightened sense of gratitude and abundance is that this is also the time of year when many people choose to write checks in support of ministries and nonprofits they care about. While last week was filled with some relaxing time with friends and family, this week is busy for many of us as we process your contributions and send a note to you sharing our thanks. In fact, I’m taking a short break from those notes to write this post. I’m overwhelmed by the generosity and commitment of the supporters of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, and by their gratitude for this ministry.

“Thanks for your continued ministry!” one person wrote with their contribution.

“Thanks for the great work you do.” wrote another.

One member of Proclaim sent us an updated email address and included this note, “ELM really is an amazing organization that makes a huge difference in the lives of people, congregations and the world.”

Your contributions mean so much to us.  We couldn’t do the work you care about without them. ELM is funded almost entirely by contributions from individuals, congregations and ministries. Your contributions also mean more–they mean that you care about this mission. They mean that you also believe that by supporting LGBTQ rostered leaders and seminarians we can continue to change the church, to make it more fully inclusive to all people.

And so, today, on this second to last day of 2011, I give thanks for you, and for all that you do.

And in the coming year, I look forward to finding new and expanding ways for this community to work together for this common vision of an inclusive and welcoming church and society.

 

Long-time Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries friends Margaret Moreland and Bennett Falk have a special gift for ELM this Christmas. They’ve agreed to donate an extra $5,000  to match all new, increased and renewed gifts to ELM before the end of the year!

Please, while this post  is open, click on this link and make your first-time, renewed, or increased gift to ELM.

Margaret and Bennett know it will take more resources to do our ministry next year. That’s why they’re giving more generously than ever before, and asking you to do the same.

If you’ve been inspired by ELM’s ministry, but haven’t given, there’s no better time than right now.  If you donate $50, ELM will have $100 for ministry. If you donate $100, we’ll have $200 for ministry!

The financial support of individuals like you have helped ELM launch two new programs this year.  One is Proclaim, the new professional community for Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians who publicly identify as LGBTQ.  There are 80 members of Proclaim, and we continue to grow.  The second is our Candidacy Accompaniment program.  Thanks to your support, ELM is currently working with NINETEEN leaders who are seeking rostered leadership in the Lutheran church. In addition, ELM supporters will invest $62,000 in congregations and ministries led by LGBTQ leaders in 2012.

This ministry is growing! We want you to be part of it.

Again, please, while this post  is open, click on this link and make your first-time, renewed, or increased gift to ELM.

We need your support. THANK YOU, Margaret and Bennett for this marvelous gift!

Starting this month, we are inviting people who support Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) to share how and why they are involved with our ministry. This month we hear from Margaret Moreland about when she first thought our ministry was worth supporting and why she’s continued to invest in our mission.

“I first realized the need for the ministry that ELM does at the January 20, 1990 ordination service for Ruth Frost, Phyllis Zillhart, and Jeff Johnson. At the time of that service, I had not been thinking about LGBT issues in the church; I attended because I knew it was a controversial and interesting thing that was happening. During the service I heard the prayers of people who felt profoundly changed by what was happening in that service: people who had not felt welcome in any church in years, people whose gay or lesbian children had left the church, people who were afraid to follow a call to ordained ministry. At the end of the service I felt that I had only two options: leave the church that was causing so much pain or work to change the church.

I began to donate money to Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM) which had just been formed, but that was not enough. Happily about two years later, Pr. Jeff Johnson invited me to meet with a group of people to plan starting a candidacy program for gay and lesbian seminarians. I joined them and we started working on what became the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP). Since then I have served on the board of one of ECP, LLGM, or ELM almost continuously. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without this wonderful ministry. I’ve met amazing, talented, wonderful people: the pastors and candidates who have been able to be called and ordained; the members of the congregations and ministries that called these pastors. Ministry happens because of the work of ELM.

The change of policy in the ELCA has not changed my commitment to the work of ELM.  LGBTQ clergy, rostered lay leaders, and seminarians still will have a difficult time being accepted in many parts of the church.  I will continue to support this work which has changed so many lives, including mine.”

Margaret Moreland serves on the board of directors for ELM and is currently chair of the Ministry Grants program. She lives in Berkeley, CA with her spouse, Bennett Falk.

EcoFaith Recovery, Portland, OR: Rev. Robyn Hartwig, $12,000    

This grant will fund the continued development of EcoFaith Recovery as a ministry of Lutherans and ecumenical partners based out of the metropolitan Portland area. EcoFaith Recovery develops and supports spiritual recovery from the addictive patterns of human life that contribute to the climate crisis, heighten social injustice, deprive people of spiritual meaning, and threaten life on earth. The grant will expand the Mission Developer position to ensure the goals of the program are met.

Anti-bullying ministry, Wisconsin: Rev. Cindy Crane,$6,000 

Pastor Cindy Crane is starting a new ministry project that addresses bullying, and how people of faith can prevent and take action effectively against bullying. The ministry will work with the South Central Synod of Wisconsin’s parishes. The team will create action plans and resources on how to engage their congregations on preventing bullying. This ministry partnership will explore how to assist youth and adults who are targets of bullying. The team aims to create a model for how to address bullying issues that parishes can use in the South Central Synod of Wisconsin and beyond.

Pastor Cindy writes that this grant will, “make this new ministry possible as well as assist me in seeking re-rostering with a specialized ministry after 12 years of being off the ELCA roster because of my sexual orientation.” Cindy was one of the founding volunteers of Extraordinary Candidacy in the Midwest.

St Stephen’s Lutheran Church, Florida: Edwin Weber intern, $3,000  

Because of recent increased demand for support to LGBTQ seminarians, ELM is launching a new grant category: ELM Internship Grants. Charles Edwin Weber received a grant for his internship at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Tallahassee, Florida. To the left is Charles  being introduced to the congregation by Pastor Marda Messick on July 31, 2011. Charles is attending Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina and is a member of Proclaim.