The Society of the Holy Trinity (Societas Trinitatis Sanctae or STS) is a Lutheran ministerium dedicated to the renewal of the Lutheran church and ministry. Founded in 1997 by 28 members, it currently has 279 members in eleven different Lutheran church bodies, mostly from the United States and Canada.
Contents |
The Society of the Holy Trinity was founded in response to the theological climate in the formative years of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). A primary concern among those who would become founders of the society was language for God: specifically, the triune name of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Efforts during and immediately after the formation of the ELCA to introduce gender-neutral Trinitarian formulae in the rite of baptism and other liturgical rites failed to gain official acceptance; however, the determination of those who demanded the change, and their entrenchment in positions of power in the new denomination, was highly alarming. In response, the "9.5 Theses" were developed and published for discussion in the ELCA. The refusal to discuss the "9.5 theses" by leaders of the denomination led directly to the formation of the society, conceived as an oratory in which pastors would support each other in being faithful to the vows made at ordination.
Although its original membership was drawn mostly from pastors of the ELCA, from the start the Society of the Holy Trinity has been an inter-Lutheran ministerium. Carl Voges, a pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, is the current Vicar of the Society. With the growth of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ and the formation of the North American Lutheran Church, the diversity of the Society has increased, with members from these bodies as well as other smaller Lutheran synods. Although some Lutheran church bodies do not ordain women to the pastoral office, membership is open to both male and female pastors from any Lutheran church body.
A Lutheran pastor becomes a member by publicly subscribing to the Rule of the Society at its annual General Retreat. Pastors are challenged to remain faithful to their ordination vows by continual deepening of formation in: prayer (Chapters I and V), Christian life as duty and example (Chapter II), collegiality (Chapters III and IV), and study (Chapter VI). In addition, the rule outlines a faithful pastoral practice seeking to renew Lutheran congregational life along catholic and confessional lines. Among the trajectories for renewal are a recovery of the public prayer of the divine office or canonical hours (Chapter I), and worship practice according to scriptural, creedal, and confessional standards, including the recovery of the practice of voluntary private confession and absolution in Lutheran congregations (Chapter VII). Finally, the rule commits members to pursuing the causes of intra-Lutheran unity as well as the unity of the Western Church (Chapter VIII).
Chapter IX of the rule outlines the governance of the society. The entire society is under the pastoral direction of a senior, who appoints a vicar. The senior convenes the society once a year in a General Retreat, with local chapters meeting at least three other times during the year under the direction of a chapter dean. Both the senior, at general retreats, and the deans, at Chapter retreats, are elected for three-year terms by pure ecclesiastical ballot: the first ballot is a nominating ballot, and successive ballots are taken until consensus is reached.
The current Senior of the Society of the Holy Trinity is the Reverend Frank C. Senn, pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church, Evanston, Illinois, who was elected to a third consecutive three-year term in October, 2009.
The society does not take political stands on issues facing Christianity or Lutheranism. However, in 2008 the society received two statements by consensus at its general retreat. These statements give pastoral guidance to members regarding issues of controversy. These two statements of pastoral guidance concern "Language in Worship" (a primary concern of the society since its founding) and "Same-Sex Unions" (anticipating the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly which voted to allow congregations, synods, and churchwide units to decide for themselves whether to call those in committed same-sex relationships to rostered leadership).