Former ELCA Bishop McDaniel on the state of the ELCA

Christopher Blosser (Against the Grain) wrote me a number of months ago about an article by the former bishop of the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the late Rev. Michael C.D. McDaniel, who, after his term as bishop, taught at Lenoir-Rhyne College until his retirement. McDaniel was a closer personal friend of the former Catholic bishop of Charlotte, the Most Reverend John F. Donoghue. He had been actively involved in ecumenical ventures with the Roman Catholic Church, helping draft the "North Carolina Lutheran-Catholic Covenant," establishing the annual Aquinas-Luther Conference hosted by his Center for Theology at the college, and periodically entertaining thoughts of converting to Catholicism. But what is particularly noteworthy is McDaniel's blistering critique of his own denomination, the ELCA, in his article, "ELCA Journeys: Personal Reflections on the Last Forty Years" in Concordia Theological Quarterly (2001), published shortly before his death. Here are some excerpts:

You are surely aware that the ELCA has been taken over by the very people our parents warned us not to play with when we were little. It is only now that the majority of our members are beginning, slowly and reluctantly, to realize that the persons writing our literature and direction our programs are hijackers, and that this church, once so dear, so wonderful, so shining with grace and glory, is way off course. As more and more people awaken to this fact, there are increasing distresses and demands that the leaders faithfully lead. (p. 105 pdf.)

... The prayer of Jesus in John 17 that we might be one "as He and the Father are one" is not a mandate for mindless coziness. However "good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity," we must not sacrifice God's truth on an altar of unity.

In these recent [ecumenical] negotiations, two structural flaws and abuses in the ELCA have become painfully evident: 1) the ideological principle of "diversity" or "inclusivity," which rapidly became a greater force in decision-making than either the law or the gospel; and 2) the operational principle of coercive power -- for example, the notorious quota system.

A dramatic result of this tampering with Scripture occurred when the Denver assembly of the ELCA voted to commit our church to an Anglican episcopacy. The assembly consisted of 60 percent laity, chosen because they fulfilled categories. They had neither a proper call to exercise theological leadership, nor any theological training. Yet, this aggregate was given authority to alter the doctrines of the church - and they did so! This is clearly a perversion of the concept of the priesthood of all believers and a mockery of Article XIV of the Augsburg Confession.

Further abuses were incorporated into the structure of the ELCA -- a disparagement or even denigration of authority (biblical, confessional, ministerial, and liturgical) appearing in various forms.... (p. 106, pdf.)

It is not just confessional laxity that troubles most of us. Repentance and contrition are rarely lifted up, and personal discipleship in prayer, Bible reading, and obedience to the Commandments receive insufficient attention when they are not openly scorned.

The reopening of fundamental moral questions, especially in areas of sexuality, constitutes a direct attack on Christian morality and invalidates the efforts of Christian people faithfully to keep the Commandments of God. That the reopening of such questions has been led by members of the hierarchy and program staff of the church only deepens the offense. The capitulation of church leadership to the relativism of the late twentieth century has scandalized the church.

To put human sexual gratification above the Commandments of God and the clear teaching of Scripture is simply unthinkable; yet, without any ELCA leader to say a clear "no," there is a continuing push for the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual liaisons as if they were marriages. Furthermore, as long as the ELCA health insurance program covers abortions, a percentage of each Sunday's offering presented before the altar of the Lord is going to finance murder.

In view of these an other matters in which the ELCA bows to the paganizing of the church, we must ask whether this ELCA that we are so benevolently offering to share with other denominations any longer qualifies as bona fide Lutheranism. Indeed, is it a Christian church?

What on earth went wrong? What was the culprit when so full of hope and joy, we gathered a larger body together in this new church? Was the culprit "quotas"? The denigration of authority? Faithless leaders?

The culprit, of course, is Satan, for still today he is sarcastically asking, as he did in the Garden, "did God say ... ?" Undermining God's word is his primary line of attack, and succumbing to such temptation our gravest sin. For when we begin to waver in our trust of the word, we forget to worship Him. And there, cold and dead, our hearts stop, and no longer leap up with joy and thanksgiving.

At the heart of every difficulty in the ELCA, at the heart of all the differences between the ELCA and the [more conservative Missouri Synod Lutheran Church], is the question of the authority and reliability of the Word of God. (p. 107, pdf.)

Excerpted from Michael C.D. McDaniel,"ELCA Journeys: Personal Reflections on the Last Forty Years" Concordia Theological Quarterly 65 (2001) no. 3:99-109. [journal on-line]; available from http://www.ctsfw.edu/ctq/text/apr01mcdaniel.pdf; Internet; accessed.