MPR: A Pious Rebellion

A Pious Rebellion
by Amy Radil
April 3, 2000

The Web site for the organization "Word Alone" prominently displays a portrait of Martin Luther, and these latter-day Lutherans place themselves squarely within Luther's tradition of pious rebellion.

An alliance between the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Episcopal Church is hitting some snags, and Minnesota has become home base for a national Lutheran group protesting the union. The two denominations formed an agreement last year, partly in order to share clergy in areas where congregations are shrinking. But Word Alone, a group of Lutheran laypeople and pastors, says aspects of the alliance violate their beliefs and could cause a serious rift in the church.

THE WEB SITE for the organization "Word Alone" prominently displays a portrait of Martin Luther, and these latter-day Lutherans place themselves squarely within Luther's tradition of pious rebellion. Word Alone members are protesting the conditions of their church's alliance with the Episcopal church, specifically a provision accepting what's called the "historic episcopate." The clause requires a laying on of hands by the bishop at a new pastor's ordination, forming an unbroken line Episcopalians say reaches back to Christ's Apostles. Some Lutheran pastors call this "a superstition." Pastor Roger Eigenfeld, who heads the Word Alone movement from St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, says the practice violates his beliefs and wrongly elevates the power of bishops over pastors and laypeople.

"There's only one person now who can ordain and that is the bishop," Eigenfeld says. "I ordained my daughter who happens to be a pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Burnsville, and in the future I could not do that."

Eigenfeld says the Word Alone movement is gaining ground; he believes it represents about two million out of five million church members. Eigenfeld's church recently hosted a nationwide convention for people unhappy about the Lutheran-Episcopal alliance. About 1,200 to 1,500 people attended, and Eigenfeld says they drafted a resolution asking the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to allow them to retain their traditional practices. Eigenfeld says he's separated Word Alone activities from his duties as a pastor, and doesn't preach against the agreement. But discussion of the group was in the air on a recent Sunday morning. Congregation member Ryan Solberg says he began hearing and reading about Word Alone, and told Eigenfeld he supports what the group stands for.

"The Biblical notion that we're a priesthood of believers, (that) we're all capable of some element of ministry, I think that's a good thing," says Solberg. "I don't know all the issues with this other movement but I guess I'd like to keep it the way it is."

However, Word Alone appears to be gaining momentum after the fact. A national Lutheran assembly already approved the agreement with the Episcopal church last year. The purpose of the agreement is to allow the ELCA and Episcopal churches to share clergy when necessary, to shore up shrinking congregations on both sides.

"We don't want to leave the ELCA; this is our church, my kids went to Lutheran colleges, I went to Lutheran college, these are our seminaries, these are our friends, and we're just hoping that some reasonable kind of solution can be found."

- Roger Eigenfeld

"The Word Alone group now are trying to turn that decision back if possible," says Herbert Chilstrom, a retired Lutheran bishop living in Pelican Rapids. He supports the alliance and sees few alternatives. "I think we need to honor that decision made by our conscientious folks at the last assembly, and move ahead," he says.

Chilstrom calls the difference between Lutheran and Episcopal practices in ordination a slight one, and says bishops often presided at ordinations anyway. But former Minnesota Governor Al Quie, recently elected to Word Alone's steering committee, says his group's members are chafing at what they see as condescension from officials at the ELCA's Chicago headquarters.

"I feel like a little boy where their father pats them on the head and says, 'Oh, you'll be all right, you'll get over that,' sort of like having a nightmare or something, 'You'll be all right in the morning.' So I don't think they really took us seriously until now," says Quie.

Word Alone members say they can envision three possible resolutions: a campaign to reverse last year's vote and throw out the agreement, permission from church officials to continue their own traditions regarding ordination, or, potentially, a break with the church.

Roger Eigenfeld says his group doesn't want to follow in Martin Luther's footsteps in that sense. "We don't want to leave the ELCA, this is our church, my kids went to Lutheran colleges, I went to Lutheran college, these are our seminaries, these are our friends, and we're just hoping that some reasonable kind of solution can be found," Eigenfeld says.

Next weekend the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's church council will meet in Chicago to discuss Word Alone's complaint and any possible solutions.

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