Leaders of the country's largest Lutheran denomination have moved toward a more welcoming view of homosexuality. 

Delegates of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting in Minneapolis, approved a "social statement on human sexuality" that acknowledges differing views on homosexuality. It says the ELCA is strong enough to accommodate such differences.

Shortly before the vote, strong winds toppled trees outside the convention center and damaged the steeple of a Lutheran church next door, prompting a speaker at the convention to quip, "We trust that the weather is not a commentary on our work."

Wednesday's vote was a prelude to votes scheduled Friday on whether to let people in same-sex relationships serve as Lutheran ministers.