Large north suburban parish votes to leave ELCA
Members of North Heights worship at two sites, including this one in Arden Hills.
North Heights Lutheran Church had been considering the move for a decade.
Members of North Heights worship at two sites, including this one in Arden Hills.
A 7,600 member suburban congregation has voted to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). North Heights Lutheran Church has been in conversation with itself and with the leadersh of the 5.1 million member Lutheran denomination for several years about whether to remain in affiliation.
North Heights members voted by a large margin on August 19 to sever its relationship with the ELCA and become an independent Lutheran congregation. Previous to the August vote, the congregation, which worships on two campuses, one in Roseville, the other in Arden Hills, had voted preliminarily to cut its ties to the ELCA. That precipitated a consultation with the recently-elected bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod, the Rev. Peter Rogness, in late July.
Following the meeting with Rogness, a spokesman for North Heights told a Minneapolis Star Tribune reporter, “We’ve heard it all before,” declaring that minds had not been changed.
North Heights has been distancing itself from the ELCA for the past several years. Its founding pastor, the Rev. Morris Vaageness, had worked to keep the congregation from bolting from the denomination. At a memorable meeting of the congregation, at the time the ELCA was formed, members narrowly agreed to remain in the denomination, in large part due to Vaageness’ persuasion. But that led to a significant number of members, unhappy with that vote, leaving the congregation.
This time the vote was decisive. Since Vaageness’ retirement, the current senior pastor, the Rev. Robert Cottingham has not tried to stop the movement to leave the denomination.
The congregation’s emphasis on gifts of the Holy Spirit has put it at odds with many in the ELCA. North Heights leadership has criticized current ELCA conversations about welcoming gay and lesbian members in congregations. North Heights teaches homosexuality can and should be “cured.”
