The stole used at many extraordinary ordinations hangs upon the cross. Photo by Emily Ann Garcia.
As we gather for worship in our own communities during these coming Holy Days we are connected with services across the church…for example the Welcome Church in Philadelphia, PA which will offer an outdoor Maundy Thursday service for those who are homeless in Philadelphia. You can read more about the service and the Welcome Church here. This church grew out of the Welcome Center at Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, where Rev. Steve Keiser serves as pastor. Rev. Keiser was extraordinarily ordained in January of 2009 and received onto the ELCA roster in 2011.
Grace Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas is holding services beginning today, including an Easter vigil, which Pastor Lura Groen is billing as “Fire! Story! Water! Bread! Wine! Mystery! Life!” Pastor Lura, ELCA rostered, ELM board member and member of Proclaim, the professional community for publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered leaders and seminarians, was on Facebook this week learning how to dye eggs in preparation for the homeless LGBTQ youth they serve through Grace Place, a new project at Grace.
How are you preparing for this Easter in your congregation or community?
Joel Raydon Workin (1961-1995)was born in Fargo, ND, and grew up on a farm in nearby Walcott. He received his Master of Divinity from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, CA. In 1986 Joel interned at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Inglewood, CA. In the fall of 1987, Joel came out publicly as a gay candidate for the ordained ministry and was certified for call by the American Lutheran Church (a predecessor body to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). Following this courageous and faithful act, Joel’s certification was revoked by the ELCA and his name was never placed on the roster of approved candidates waiting for call. Joel’s ministry continued in Los Angeles, however, at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and as Director of Chris Brownlie Hospice. On December 30, 1988, Joel married Paul Jenkins. Joel was a member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, North Hollywood. He and Paul were active in Lutherans Concerned/Los Angeles and Dignity/Los Angeles. Paul died of AIDS on June 6, 1993.
In the last weeks of his illness, Joel gave his friends and family permission to sponsor an endowed memorial fund in his name. The Joel R.Workin Memorial Scholarship Fund was thus established upon Joel’s death on November 29, 1995. In keeping with Joel’s wishes, awards from the fund are used to provide scholarships to publicly-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer seminary students who seek to change the church and society through their ministry. The fund is managed by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, through the Lutheran Community Foundation.
Thanks to a special gift given by Joel’s parents in honor of the life of the late Bp. Paul E. Egertson, ELM will award two $1,000 grants from the memorial fund this year. Previous Joel R. Workin Memorial Scholars include Rev. Jen Rude, Matthew James, and Julie Boleyn.
This scholarship is available for publicly-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Lutheran seminarians. Applicants must be members of Proclaim. Click here to download a Proclaim membership form. The deadline for applications is Wednesday June 1. Electronic submissions should be sent to 0perations@elm.org by Midnight Central Time on June 1st. Download the scholarship application here.
This award comes with a scholarship to LGBTQ seminarians who embody Joel’s passion for justice and faith in their lives and ministry. In addition, the Scholar(s) may be invited throughout the year to be involved with various ELM activities. Co-Chairs of the Joel R. Working Memorial Scholarship Endowment Committee are Rev. Jeff R. Johnson and Greg A. Egertson, beloved friends and classmates of Joel’s.
We warmly invite you to apply or encourage eligible persons to do so. If you would like to make a gift designated for the Joel R. Workin Endowment Fund, please contact Amalia Vagts, ELM Executive Director at director@elm.org or 563-382-6277. Please consider making a planned gift from your estate to this fund.
A member of St. Francis Lutheran Church, Charles Schuler, put together this light-hearted video from the reception dinner for the historic welcoming of St. Francis Lutheran Church back into the ELCA, on February 27, 2011.
The work of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries grew out of the work of two previous organizations, Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (founded in 1990) and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project (founded in 1993).
Early in 2006, a group of representatives from LLGM and ECP formed a vision team to begin discussing a merger. On February 17, 2007 , the leaders of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries and the Extraordinary Candidacy Project formally agreed to merge, forming a new organization. The leadership approved a vision document and created a team to draft a theology statement. Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries was founded on October 31, 2007.
Brief History and Purpose of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries (LLGM)
LLGM was founded in 1990 when two San Francisco congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) decided to call and ordain a gay man and a lesbian couple to be their pastors in violation of a church policy that prohibiting gay, lesbian and bisexual (with a same gender partner) pastors from serving its congregations unless they agreed to life long celibacy. These congregations not only believed that this policy was unjust, but also that it was critical for their credibility, integrity and evangelism that their congregations be served by openly identified sexual minority pastors who fully lived or endorsed same sex relationships.
These pastors were fully qualified for ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) but for their refusal to comply with the ELCA’s requirement of life long celibacy. The congregations that called them – St. Francis Lutheran Church and First United Lutheran Church – are diverse congregations that include all sexual orientations, ages, races, and genders.
LLGM became a model ministry demonstrating the gifts and benefits ordained leadership by sexual minority pastors bring to a congregation and community. The establishment of LLGM spurred inspiration for those seeking full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people and staunch adherence to policy from the institution. After a grueling trial the St. Francis and First United were expelled from the ELCA. In subsequent years an increasing number of pastors and seminarians were being forced from Lutheran ministry in the ELCA and turned to LLGM for help.
In 1993, LLGM’s sister organization, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was started to provide a structure for pastors, other rostered ministers, and seminarians to gain or retain their professional credentials. The ECP provides the same strict and rigorous certification and rostering process for ministry candidates as the ELCA, but also honors relationships. In 1995 LLGM realized that at the same time there was a growing roster of ministers to serve, there were congregations interested in calling them. Therefore LLGM formally partnered with the ECP to create, facilitate, and support ministry placements for its roster and expand its work nationwide.
In 1995 LLGM awarded its first ministry partnership support. In addition, LLGM has provided emergency assistance, technical assistance and legal support to pastors, seminarians, and congregations facing discipline of negative ramifications because of their support of GLBT pastors.
Brief History and Purpose of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project
Founding members of ECP
Formed in 1993, The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was created to credential openly gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender seminarians, candidates, ordained and commissioned ministers preparing for professional vocations in Lutheran ministry, primarily congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The Extraordinary Candidacy Project (ECP) was opposed to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) policy of mandated celibacy for sexual minority persons who seek ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry. In part, the ECP was a project of resistance to this policy, to its lack of consistent enforcement of the policy, and to its practice of encouraging intentional deception to avoid the ramifications of the policy. ECP understood the policy to be a fundamental violation of the creation of all persons as sexual beings and of the sacredness of the primary relationships of all people.
The ECP was more than resistance. It was a new way of being church in the world. If “ordinary” had come to mean “discriminatory,” we chose the adjective “extraordinary” to deliberately emphasize the “out-of-the-ordinary” nature of our project.
The ECP candidacy process was modeled on the candidacy process of the ELCA.
This month ELM had two more members join the Board of Directors, ELM’s governing body. Julie Boleyn and Jim Kowalski both bring a wide range of skills and experiences to the Board of Directors.
Julie (right) with her family
Julie Boleyn grew up in Oregon, attending a Lutheran church for the first time at the invitation of a high school friend. While still in high school, she became a Sunday School teacher, jr. high youth leader, and sang in the choir. Almost directly upon graduation, Julie started working for a start-up software company as their first employee. While the work was interesting, she found her real joy was always in the volunteer work she did with the church.
In 1997, Julie volunteered on long-term staff at Holden Village. It was there that she discerned a call to the ministry as a parish pastor. In May 2010, Julie completed her masters at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
Julie and her partner, Jeanine Reardon, were married in a church ceremony at St. Paul Lutheran in Evanston, Illinois in October of 2004. They live in Chicago with their daughter.
Bruce Jervis and Jim Kowalski (L-R)
Jim Kowalski grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, attending and being confirmed in a Lutheran congregation. He went to college at Emory University on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Jim moved to San Francisco in 1992 with his spouse Bruce Jervis, after the both served four years in the US Navy. They joined St. Francis Lutheran Church shortly thereafter, and Jim has served in many leadership roles there, including on the congregational Council and as co-chair of a capital fund-raising campaign.
Jim worked through April 2010 at Golden Gate University in a variety of capacities, including alumni relations, fund-raising and program administration. He served on the board of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries from 2003 to 2006 and is delighted and honored to be serving as co-chair of the Prophets and Workers Campaign for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.
JIM KOWALSKI
Jim Kowalski grew up in suburban Pittsburgh, attending and being confirmed in a Lutheran congregation. He went to college at Emory University on a Navy ROTC scholarship. Jim moved to San Francisco in 1992 with his spouse Bruce Jervis, after the both served four years in the US Navy. They joined St. Francis Lutheran Church shortly thereafter, and Jim has served in many leadership roles there, including on the congregational Council and as co-chair of a capital fund-raising campaign. Jim worked through April 2010 at Golden Gate University in a variety of capacities, including alumni relations, fund-raising and program administration. He served on the board of Lutheran Lesbian & Gay Ministries from 2003 to 2006 and is delighted and honored to be serving as co-chair of the Prophets and Workers Campaign for Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries.
Photo of porch at George Williams Conference Center
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Lutheran pastors and rostered lay leaders from around the country (and even the world) are getting ready for a first-of-its-kind retreat next month.
For many years, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) has hosted an annual retreat for members of the ELM roster. Each year, this group would come together for community and professional development. This year, ELM is launching Proclaim, the new professional community open to all publicly-identified LGBTQ Lutheran pastors and rostered lay leaders. So when the retreat begins on April 1, it will include leaders not only from the ELM roster, but also the ELCA and other Lutheran rosters. This retreat will be the official launch of Proclaim.
49 people have registered for the retreat. About half the group have prior ELM connections and about half do not. We are especially delighted that the group includes 15 seminarians! And thanks to the generosity of ELM donors, we were able to award scholarships to 18 attendees. Attendees are coming from all parts of the United States and beyond–9 from Chicago; 15 from the Twin Cities; 4 from the Midwest; 7 from the East Coast, South & Southwest; and 11 from the West Coast. AND…1 from South Africa and 1 from Alaska!
The 2011 Proclaim Retreat will be April 1-3 at the George Williams Conference Center near Lake Geneva, WI. The key presenter will be Lisa Larges, who has long worked for ordination for lesbian and gay people in the Presbyterian church and serves as Ministry Coordinator for That All May Freely Serve.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM) has announced that Lisa Larges will be the keynote presenter for its spring rostered leaders retreat. The retreat will be held April 1-3 near Lake Geneva, WI and is open to all publicly-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Lutheran clergy and rostered lay leaders. The retreat will be the formal launch of Proclaim, a new professional community for LGBTQ rostered leaders in the Lutheran church. Registration information is available here.
A lifelong Presbyterian, Lisa became a candidate for ministry in the Twin Cities Presbytery (a regional governing body in the Presbyterian Church) in 1986, and a publicly-identified lesbian candidate in 1991. The Twin Cities Presbytery affirmed her call to ministry as an open lesbian.
In 1992, that affirmation was overturned by a ruling from the highest judicial court in the Presbyterian Church.
Lisa has continued to seek ordination to Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church for more than 20 years. In a groundbreaking decision the Presbytery of San Francisco approved Lisa to move forward in the Ordination process. The vote by the San Francisco Presbytery to move Lisa forward in the ordination process was challenged, and in the fall of 2009, the highest court of the Presbyterian Church ruled that the Presbytery could bring Lisa forward for the trials of examination for Ordination.
In 2010, the Presbytery voted 156-138 to approve her for Ordination. This decision was been challenged, and will go through the Presbyterian judicial process. A final ruling is expected in early 2011.
“Lisa’s story has parallels and intersections with many in our community,” said ELM Executive Director Amalia Vagts. “Her public identity as a lesbian called to serve has been instrumental in changes within the Presbyterian church. We are delighted to learn more with her!”
Lisa currently serves as Minister Director for That All May Freely Serve, an organization working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Presbyterian Church, particularly on the issue of ordination.
The Rev. Jay Wilson is a queer and genderqueer transguy, autistic and disabled, who identifies as a Lutheran postmodern, third-wave feminist, academic geek, disability rights activist, and social justice advocate. Jay completed his Masters in Social Work from College of St. Catherine/St. Thomas University and completed his Masters in Divinity from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Rev. Wilson worked at Welcome: A Communal Response to Poverty in San Francisco, CA. He was ordained to serve at Welcome through his work at First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Prior to working at Welcome, Jay worked in St. Paul, MN as a disability rights individual advocate.
Jay has worked with religious communities and diverse organizations as a presenter, educator, and advocate in cross-movement anti-oppression, sexuality and gender identity, Self-Advocacy movement, and community access. He served ELM as chair of the Diversity and Inclusion committee until March 1, 2011.
On January 15, 2011 a memorial service for the Rev. Paul Egertson was held at at the Samuelson Chapel at California Lutheran University.
“Paul Egertson, a senior lecturer at the Thousand Oaks university, was a compassionate man well known in the church as an excellent theologian and great teacher. He garnered widespread national attention, though, as an advocate for full inclusion of gays in the life of the church and the ordination of gay and lesbian candidates for ministry.”- California Lutheran University website
Paul served on ELM’s Board of Directors and was an essential part of ELM’s work towards the full inclusion of LGBTQ Rostered pastors in the ELCA.
