Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa is a Lutheran church in South Africa. The Church has 580,000 baptized members.[1] in seven Dioceses in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland. It became a member of the Lutheran World Federation in 1976 after it was formed out of four previous Synods in 1975.

Contemporary Issues

In 2005, "The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa [had] come out in support of polygamy and homosexuality - provided they promote the cause of the Gospel...[saying] 'If a gay presiding bishop would - in our opinion - advance even better the course of the Gospel, let it be so.'"[2][3]

In 2007, the church received approval to perform same-sex marriages, but it is unclear how many congregations have chosen to do so.[4] In 2015, the ELCSA synod discussed same-sex unions but stated that "a marriage is understood as a union only between a man and a woman. Furthermore the valid and unchanged position of our Church is that the blessing of same sex unions is rejected".[5] However, Bishop Dr. Biyela stated that the ELCSA "embraces homosexuals and allows them to worship in their churches as full members".[5]

See also


References

  1. ↑ LWF Statistics 2009 Archived August 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ "Gay OK 'if good for Gospel'". News24. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  3. ↑ "SA Lutheran prelate supports ordination of polygamist, gay priests". www.panapress.com. Retrieved 2016-10-25.
  4. ↑ "Churches get nod for gay marriages | IOL". IOL. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
  5. 1 2 "Homosexuality in South Africa – KZNCC". kzncc.blazanor.com. Retrieved 2016-08-01.
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