Lutherans Concerned/North America is an organization of laypeople, pastors, and congregations that are primarily from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) who are working for the full acceptance and inclusion of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the Church. It is one of many LGBT-welcoming church movements to emerge in American Christianity in the late 20th century.
Lutherans Concerned's mission statement reads: "Working at the intersection of oppressions, Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA) embodies, inspires, advocates and organizes for the acceptance and full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities within the Lutheran communion and its ecumenical and global partners."
Lutherans Concerned is part of a coalition of organizations called "Goodsoil"[1] working to change church policies and practices regarding same-gender blessings and the ordination of gay and lesbian ministers involved in committed same-gender relationships.
The organization was founded in 1974 to promote tolerance of gay and lesbian persons within the various North American Lutheran denominations.
Through its Reconciling in Christ (RIC) program, the organization recognizes congregations and Lutheran organizations that declare themselves welcoming to all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. As of December 2008, the RIC roster [2] includes about 400 settings, including congregations, synods, campus ministries, colleges, and other organizations, in the ELCA and ELCIC.
A January 2005 report[3] issued by the ELCA's Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality suggests that the group's stance represents a minority position among those who responded to a survey, but one that garners a sizable constituency in support. After collecting opinions from primarily lay members in 2004 (using non-scientific, non-random sampling methods), the Task Force concluded that "a majority of the respondents to the study do not wish to change our traditional position," while noting that "a significant minority wants us to either 1) bless same-sex unions and admit people in such unions into the rostered ministries of the ELCA or 2) allow for pastoral discretion in the blessing of same-sex unions and make an accommodation by allowing for some form of exception or local option to admit people in such unions to the rostered ministries of the ELCA."
Out of approximately 4,000 respondents, 57 percent opposed blessing and rostering, 22.1 percent favored blessing and rostering, and 20.8 percent favored either an (unspecified) alternative, a delay in decision, or expressed no opinion. The results varied widely by age: younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to support blessing and rostering, with 42.7 percent in favor and 27 percent opposed among respondents 24 and under, and 17.7 percent in favor and 65.5 percent opposed among respondents age 65 or older. The approximately 4,000 respondents represent 0.08 percent of the total population of the ELCA, which stands at about 4.8 million.
At the ELCA's churchwide assembly, held in Chicago in August 2007, about 44% of the assembly's voting members voted to consider a resolution calling for the ELCA to revise its policies to allow for the rostering of ministers in same-gender relationships.[4]