Lutherans forming new denomination

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Leaders of a group of Lutherans opposed to clergy in gay relationships say they voted in Minneapolis to begin work to create a new Lutheran church body.

Lutheran CORE said Wednesday it would form the new denomination, separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, by August 2010, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

"Every day we're hearing from people asking us to do something, so we are responding," said the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE.

The ELCA in Chicago said the move was expected.

The ELCA, the largest U.S. Lutheran group, with 4.9 million members, voted in August to allow homosexuals in committed relationships to become ministers. CORE, an umbrella organization of Lutheran groups, led the opposition to the change from a policy that had allowed gays to serve in the ministry only if they were celibate.

ELCA had asked members who opposed the change to hold off on taking action, and CORE delegates had agreed to wait a year before taking steps to split from the ELCA. But Ryan Schwarz, chairman of CORE's Vision and Planning Working Group, said congregations had grown impatient.

"When we talked about waiting a year, we never intended to sit around for a year and just contemplate," he said. "We expected to do planning. Now we're also going to be doing the legwork in terms of creating a new church body."

Last week, the 4,500-member Hosanna Lutheran, the second-largest Lutheran congregation in Minnesota, said it would take the first of two necessary votes to leave the ELCA by mid-December.