September 3 - Reformed Body Says Lutheran Gay Vote Does Not Impair Partnership

The Reformed Church in America has no plans to end its full communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over the Lutherans' recent vote to allow noncelibate homosexuals to be ordained.

"Cutting ties with the ELCA over their Assembly’s narrow decision would witness to the world that Christians will fight and divide themselves from one another, and break the bonds of Christian fellowship, over such an ethical difference," RCA spokesman Paul Boice told The Christian Post.

"What do we do when a denomination perverts the grace of our God into sensuality (Jude 4) – and not just a few renegade churches here and there, but the whole denomination in its official decision making capacity?" DeYoung posed. "Homosexuality is, as J.I. Packer has argued, a heretical issue because it denies a central tenet of the gospel – repentance."

The debate stirred by ELCA's recent vote echoes discussions from more than a decade ago when the RCA was considering full communion agreement with the United Church of Christ, which supports an open and affirming view on homosexuality.

"The official stances of our two churches differed, and continue to differ today, as with the ELCA," Boice explained. But, "the difference on this ethical issue did not involve the core of the gospel; in other words, we still recognized one another as churches."

"If we began cutting ties with every denomination with which we had a difference, we would be unfaithful to our Lord’s call to seek the unity of his body and do serious harm to our witness and mission in the world," he said