On August 17, 2011, Trinity’s Congregational Council affirmed three recently-adopted (July, 2011) policies of the ELCIC which bear on the unity of the church and on the marriage and ordination of gay people. For the people of Trinity, this means that, as opportunities might arise, Trinity’s pastors are able to accord the full range of pastoral ministry, including marriage, to all who might prevail upon them, whether gay or straight. The following documents afford a window into Trinity's continuing faithful journey:

• Development Process for Trinity's Affirmation of Welcome (2004)
• Trinity's Affirmation of Welcome (adopted October, 2004)
• NCC Letter to the Church (April, 2011)
• ELCIC Social Statement on Human Sexuality (adopted July, 2011)
• Three Motions Arising from the ELCIC Social Statement on Human Sexuality (adopted July, 2011)
• Bishop Pryse's First Post-Convention Pastoral Letter (July, 2011)
• Eastern Synod Pastoral Considerations (synodical guidelines; July, 2011)
• Trinity Pastors' Letter (communication of Council action; August, 2011)
• Bishop Pryse's Second Post-Convention Pastoral Letter (October, 2011)

Trinity's journey toward full-inclusion began, however, thirteen years ago, in 1998. This web page exists for two reasons:

1. To assist the community of Trinity Church in its ongoing faithful journey and in "living into and out of" its own Affirmation of Welcome. Ours is a journey of some 13 years and, still, our journey has only just begun!
2. To encourage sister communities to do the necessary work --holding Caring Conversations, adopting Affirmations of Welcome, studying the ELCIC's Social Statement on Human Sexuality and related motions-- leading to the possibility of their affirming our ELCIC policies relative to the marriage and ordination of gay people. It need not take 13 years. It will, however, take a journey of generous good will, of give and take, of exploration and explanation, and of careful speaking and attentive listening.

1. Faithful Journey ~ A Blessing Declined: Trinity's Caring Conversations I (1998-2001)
2. Faithful Journey ~ Erwin Buck: Studies on Homosexuality and the Church (1999-2001)
3. Faithful Journey ~ Kitchener/Waterloo Conference Caring Conversations (2002-2005 and 2011)
4. Faithful Journey ~ Trinity's Caring Conversations II: Affirmation of Welcome (2003-2004)
5. Faithful Journey ~ Canadian Context for Conversation (2003-2005)
6. Faithful Journey ~ Caring Conversations Resources

Early in 1998, Pastor Lavergne was invited by a parishioner to bless her relationship with a woman partner. It seemed to her a natural request, one that an active parishioner might reasonably make of her pastor. Trinity had supported this young woman in overseas medical missions work and our community deeply respected her Christian witness. In those days, the matter of same-sex unions was not on the national radar screen and certainly not on the agenda of the church. What to do? Pastor Lavergne consulted parish leaders and other important and considered voices. He met with his spiritual director and confessor. At length, however, he declined to offer the blessing. It was his judgement that Trinity was simply not there. Our Council was divided and our way was unclear. In any event, for the time-being, the door was closed to the blessing of same-sex couples at Trinity, New Hamburg.

On October 31, 1998, Reformations Day, the blessing proceeded in another venue and under the hands of a pastor of the United CHurch of Canada. In this context, Pastor Lavergne pledged himself to lead the congregation in some sort of process of discernment and conversation with gays and lesbians in our community. As he saw it, our parish had an ethical and moral obligation to take up the difficult questions --the hard questions-- born of this real-world request for pastoral care. That was 13 years ago.

Shortly thereafter, Pastor Lavergne learned that National Church Council was looking at the matter of how the church welcomes gays and lesbians. This was late in 1998 and early in 1999. A process dubbed a "Caring Conversation" was being contemplated and, in the summer of 1999, a Caring Conversation was modelled at the National Convention.

"Caring Conversation" refers to a model commended by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada's National Church Council to ELCIC congregations, in a direction affirmed by the 1999 Regina national convention, "where members of the ELCIC ... are able to listen to the experiences of gay and lesbian people and their families." (NCC Minutes, March, 1999; Minutes, Seventh Biennial Convention, p. 35)

Pastor Lavergne was moved --as were many others-- by this single, short session. At the same time, it seemed to him that, for use in the parish, a fuller, several-session process would be more appropriate. He felt that the "Caring Conversation" itself needed to be located in a larger process of study, conversation and discernment. Thus, at Trinity, we elected to lead into the Conversation proper with several sessions of Bible-study and to follow up with a debriefing and "whereto from here" session. All this was in the planning stages in late 1999 yielding our own ground-breaking, formative and deeply moving Caring Conversations series in 2000. (We shall always be grateful to Pastor Dr. Tim Hegedus for opening the Scriptures to us, in a gentle and inclusive way, in those early days.) In fact, all this was transpiring even before the publication in 2001 of Erwin Buck's extremely helpful Studies on Homosexuality and the Church which served to popularize the Caring Conversation model. (For completeness, it might be noted that Caring Conversation-like events had been transpiring in various corners of the ELCIC as early as c. 1990 as, for example, in Edmonton, Alberta.) In any event, following our work at Trinity, other communities adopted and adapted our several-week format using a variety of kinds of sessions to lead into the Caring Conversation proper.

Since those days thirteen years ago, Trinity has played a significant role in informing the larger conversation around matters related to the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. For example, from 2002-2005, we were active in helping to plan the Kitchener/Waterloo Conference series of Caring Conversations events.

At the same time, back at home, within the parish, we initiated a second parish-based Caring Conversations II series, the fruit of which was the adoption, at length, of Trinity's own elegant and carefully-crafted Affirmation of Welcome. This effort grew in part out of the Eastern Synod's adoption of a welcoming motion (2004), although our work was already well under way in 2002. See the Synod Council's considered recommendation (April, 2004) and Pastor Dr. Robert Kelly's thoughtful commentary on the motion as approved. (October, 2004)

As mentioned above, this web page exists --and has existed for many years-- for two important reasons: to assist the community of Trinity Church in its ongoing faithful journey and to encourage sister communities to do the necessary work leading to the full inclusion of our gay sisters and brothers in the life of the church.

At the 1999 Convention of the ELCIC held in Regina, delegates instructed the church to make available to its congregations Six Studies on Homosexuality (1985) together with a current bibliography of materials prepresenting different perspectives on the issue of homosexuality. In 2000, the Rev. Dr. Erwin Buck, Professor of New Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and the author of the original Six Studies, agreed to revise his earlier volume and to bring this resourse up to date. The result was Studies on Homosexuality and the Church published in 2001.

Note that the original 48-page Six Studies volume was published by the Division for Social Service of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, one of the two predecessor bodies which merged, in 1986, to form the ELCIC. Apparently, conversations around homosexuality have been live among Canadian Lutherans for decades. Note also that the revised Studies on Homosexuality only conceives of a single "Caring Conversation" session. While the 1999 ELCIC National Convention had recommended that all ELCIC synods, conferences and congregations undertake "Caring Conversations", these were seen as individual, one-off events. Thus, Studies on Homosexuality and the Church does not contemplate the several-session model which was used at Trinity and which came to be favoured in many sister communities across the church.

By kind permission, Studies on Homosexuality and the Church is made available here in a single larger file or in seven smaller ones which reflect the natural divisions of the book. The Appendix contains a Guide for Caring Conversations. We are grateful to Erwin Buck, Susan Taylor and Wendell Grahlman for their assistance in porting this book to the Web as the original volume is now out of print.

• Studies on Homosexuality and the Church ~ Entire volume
• Front Matter ~ Table of Contents and Foreword
• Study 1 ~ Information About Homosexuality
• Study 2 ~ The Message from the Old Testament
• Study 3 ~ The Message of the New Testament
• Study 4 ~ How Does One Apply Biblical Teaching?
• Study 5 ~ Where Do We Go From Here?
• Back Matter ~ Bibliography, Appendix, Glossary

In the spring of 2002, Pastors Mark Harris (Mount Zion, Waterloo) and André Lavergne (Trinity, New Hamburg) spoke at the monthly gathering of Kitchener-Waterloo clergy on their experience initiating and leading "Caring Conversations" in their parishes. Their experience with Caring Conversations, in their own communities, had been very, very positive. Out of this meeting, there came several requests that a full day be offered to encourage and to help parish pastors to initiate the Caring Conversations process in their own congregations. As a result, the following series transpired:

• Caring Conversations - 1 (invitation/agenda), a clergy in-service day, was held in October, 2002. In the course of this clergy gathering, there emerged a consensus that a second day-long event be offered, this one to include both clergy and lay people.

• Caring Conversations - 2 (invitation/agenda) was held in February, 2003.

• Caring Conversations - 3 (invitation/agenda) took place in October, 2003. At this event, a "caring conversation" proper was offered/modelled followed by an opportunity for questions and answers.

• Caring Conversations - 4 (invitation/agenda) was offered in March, 2004. This event addressed the Affirmation of Welcome motion as it was proposed prior to the 2004 Eastern Synod Assembly.

• Caring Conversations - 5 (invitation/agenda) was offered in October, 2004. We looked at ways in which our communities might respond to the Eastern Synod's Affirmation of Welcome by devising Affirmations of Welcome of our own; by initiating Caring Conversations; and by considering various opportunities and challenges arising from the Eastern Synod motion.

• Caring Conversations - 6 (invitation/agenda) was offered in April, 2005. The event assisted congregations in matters related to the Eastern Synod's blessing motion by which the ELCIC was asked to consider the possibility of same-sex blessings being permitted as a local congregation option in the ELCIC.

• Caring Conversations - 7 (invitation/agenda) is being offered on November 5, 2011. The event is designed to assist pastors and congregations to respond to the ELCIC's Social Statement on Human Sexuality and the three related motions (adopted July, 2011).
  • ELCIC Social Statement on Human Sexuality (adopted July, 2011)
  • Three Motions Arising from the ELCIC Social Statement on Human Sexuality (adopted July, 2011)
  • Bishop Pryse's First Post-Convention Pastoral Letter (July, 2011)
  • Eastern Synod Pastoral Considerations (synodical guidelines; July, 2011)
  • Bishop Pryse's Second Post-Convention Pastoral Letter (October, 2011)

In May, 2004, Trinity completed a four-session, Sunday-morning adult learning series entitled Caring Conversations II: Aspects of Grace. In the series, we picked up where we had left off some years earlier when we undertook the original and transformative Caring Conversation process (Caring Conversations I). In June, 2004, a motion came before the Eastern Synod by which the congregations and communities of Synod were invited to become more welcoming toward gay and lesbian people. At the same convention, the assembly refered a request to the national church to examine the blessing of gay and lesbian couples. On four Sunday mornings in Easter (ie. ahead of the assembly), we looked at these and other interconnected realities and issues. The leaders for the series were the Rev. Dr. Tim Hegedus, the Rev. Dr. Oz Cole Arnal and Pastor André Lavergne.

In light of the Sunday morning conversations at adult learning, on May 19, 2004, Trinity's Council took up the possibility of Trinity's adopting its own Affirmation of Welcome. The text went through eight drafts and came to reflect 1. comments from people who attended Trinity's Caring Conversations II adult learning series; 2. observations from members of Trinity's Council; 3. suggestions from members of the congregation; 4. suggestions from visitors to Trinity's website; 5. additional suggestions from colleagues in ministry. The Congregational Council approved the final text on August 18, 2004, for circulation in the congregation in September.

On Sunday, October 24, 2004, the congregation adopted its own Affirmation of Welcome. Some 130 people voted. The vote was a single vote shy of unanimity. Trinity's process for adopting this statement is detailed in a four-page Toward an Affirmation of Welcome monograph.

You are welcome here

Whatever your country of origin or ancestry,
and whether you are religious or not,
Christian or not, or Lutheran or not,
you are welcome here.

Whether you are male, female or transgendered,
young or old,
straight, gay, lesbian or bisexual,
you are welcome here.

Whether you are single or partnered,
married, widowed or divorced,
you are welcome here.

Whether you are wealthy or poor,
own a home or rent,
live at home or are homeless,
you are welcome here.

Whatever your political views,
--whether to the right, to the left or to the centre--
you are welcome here.

Whatever your strengths or weaknesses,
gifts or challenges,
they will be honoured,
for you are welcome here.

Trinity Lutheran Church is committed
to being a loving and welcoming community
centred in the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In faithfulness to the Christian Gospel,
in reflection of our Lutheran emphasis on grace,
and in celebration of our shared baptismal journey,
we promise to enter into ministry with all who seek God here.

We invite you to join us for worship
and to take up your place with us in ministry
for you are welcome at Trinity Lutheran Church.

In 1984 Lutherans Concerned / North America started the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) program to recognize Lutheran congregations that expressly welcome lesbian and gay believers. The Reconciling in Christ roster now includes hundreds of settings -- congregations, synods and organizations. As a result of the passing of the 2004 welcoming motion, the Eastern Synod was added to the RIC roster by Lutherans Concerned / North America. Trinity Church, New Hamburg, joined the ranks of RIC congregations the same year.

Trinity's and the ELCIC's early Caring Conversations efforts took place against a backdrop of dramatic unfolding realities in Canadian society as a whole.

On June 10, 2003, an Ontario Court of Appeal judgement in regards to same-sex marriages, together with the Government of Canada's subsequent (June 17) decision not to appeal the Ontario ruling, rendered same-sex marriages legal in the Province of Ontario. By late June, 2005, same-sex marriages were legal in 8 provinces and 1 territory representing almost 90% of the population of Canada.

On July 17, 2003, the Government of Canada proposed legislation which would redefine marriage to include same-sex couples: "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others." The Act Respecting Certain Aspects of Legal Capacity for Marriage was referred to the Supreme Court of Canada, with attendant requests for the court's wisdom around several issues including that of "the right of religious officials to refuse to sanctify same-sex marriages." On November 9, 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada, by unanimous decision, cleared the way for the federal government to legalize same-sex marriage, ruling that Parliament has the right to redefine marriage. The ruling by the country's top court also said that religious officials could not be forced to marry same-sex couples.

On February 1, 2005, the Government of Canada tabled legislation to afford equal access to marriage to gays and lesbians. The legislation passed final reading in the House of Commons on June 28, 2005 and in the Senate on July 19, 2005. At the time, Canada became one of only four countries to have legalized the marriage of same-sex couples. (The others were Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.)

Posted here are materials provided by staff at various Kitchener/Waterloo Conference Caring Conversations events and by ELCIC scholars and pastors who provided essays in the Considering the Matter of Same-Sex Blessings series published by the ELCIC in 2004-2005. (Additional essays are to be found on the ELCIC site.)

(Note that the biographical notes were current at the time of writing. Some authors have gone on to other endeavours.)

Matthew Anderson ~ A lecturer in the Faculty of Theological Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Dr. Matthew Anderson is pastor of Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Dollard-des-Ormeaux,Quebec. (2011: Honorary Assistant, St. John's Lutheran Church, and Lecturer, Department of Theological Studies, Concordia University, Montreal.)

• What is "Clearly Contrary to Scripture" in Discussions of the Church and Homosexuality? (June, 2004; revised September, 2004)
• The Three Reformation Solas and Twenty-First Century Ethical Issues (December, 2004)

Jann Boyd ~ The Rev. Jann Boyd is Assistant Professor of Worship and Homiletics and Dean of Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon. (2011: The Rev. Dr. Jann Boyd is Professor of Worship & Homiletics, Dean of Chapel and Director of the Cross-Cultural Program, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon.)

• Blessing in Scripture, Liturgy and the Life of the Church (January, 2005)

Gertrude Buck ~ Gertrude Buck is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counselling at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon. (2011: Retired.)

• A Look at Some of the Pastoral Issues Related to the Blessings of Same-Sex Couples (October, 2004)

Oscar Cole-Arnal ~ A member of Christ Lutheran Church, Waterloo, and an ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Oscar Cole-Arnal is Professor of Historical Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. (2011: Professor Emeritus, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.)

• Toward a Reformation Welcome: Law, Gospel and the Three Solas (September, 2004)
• "Local Option" in First Century Christianity and the Lutheran Reformation (September, 2004)

Larry Denef & Bill Hordern ~ The Rev. Dr. Lawrence Denef served as Executive Director for Theological Education and for College and University Services (retired), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; The Rev. Dr. William Hordern is Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology and former President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon.

• Adiaphora, the Article By Which the Church Stands or Falls, and the Blessing of Same-Sex Relationships (October, 2004)

Sarah Dille ~ A member of Christ Lutheran Church, Waterloo, and an ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Sarah Dille is Associate Professor of Old Testament Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. (2011: Dr. Dille has recently relocated to her family home in Moorhead, Minnesota.)

• Old Testament Texts Relating to Homosexuality: Exegesis and Reflections (October, 2002)
• A Lutheran Hermeneutic of the Old Testament and the Blessing of Same-Sex Couples (January, 2005)

Volker Greifenhagen ~ The Rev. Dr. Franz Volker Greifenhagen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Luther College at the University of Regina. (2011: Professor Greifenhagen is Assistant Dean, Religious studies, Luther College at the University of Regina)

• Some Thoughts on Reading the Old Testament (January, 2005)

Tim Hegedus ~ A member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Kitchener, and an ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Tim Hegedus is Associate Professor of New Testament Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.

• Biblical Passages Relating to Same-Sex Relations (October, 2011)
• New Testament Texts Relating to Homosexuality: Exegesis and Reflections (October, 2002)
• A Lutheran Approach to the Bible (October, 2002; revised, February, 2003 and October, 2011)

Tim Hegedus & Erwin Buck ~ A member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Kitchener, and an ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Tim Hegedus is Associate Professor of New Testament Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. The Rev. Dr. Erwin Buck is Professor of New Testament and Acting President of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Saskatoon. (2011: Dr. Buck is Professor Emeritus at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon.)

• A Lutheran Approach to the New Testament A Hermeneutic of Grace (January, 2005)

Val Hennig ~ Having served the church in a variety of ways through 49 years of ordained ministry, Pastor Val Hennig presently serves as Interim Pastor at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Kitchener. (2011: Formally retired, Pastor Hennig serves on the pastoral staff at St. John's Lutheran Church, Waterloo.)

• The Ministry of Welcome According to the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions (Reference notes; October, 2004)

Cindy Jacobsen ~ Pastor Cindy Schnasa Jacobsen serves at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Kitchener, Ontario. (2011: Interim pastor of University Lutheran Church in Cambridge,Massachusetts and Lutheran Campus Chaplain at Boston University.

• Pastoral Issues in the Blessing of Same-Sex Relationships (November, 2004)

Loretta Jaunzarins ~ Pastor Loretta Jaunzarins serves at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, East Zorra. She is doing graduate studies in philosophy and Biblical studies at the Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto. (2011: Pastor, Grace Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ontario.)

• Bibliography: Homosexuality and Christianity (October, 2002; revised February, 2003 and July, 2004).

Robert Kelly ~ A member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Kitchener, and an ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Robert Kelly is Professor of Systematic Theology at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.

• Mission and Welcome: A Commentary on the Eastern Synod's Statement of Welcome in Light of the Mission of God (October, 2004)
• Toward a Lutheran Theology of Marriage (November, 2004)

John Kleiner ~ The Rev. Dr. John W. Kleiner is Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics and Church History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon. Dr. Kleiner died on December 16, 2004, shortly after completing this essay. Requiescat in pace.

• How Do Lutherans View Marriage? (November, 2004)

Alan Lai ~ The Rev. Dr. Alan Ka Lun Lai is Assistant Professor of Religious Education, Vancouver School of Theology. (2011: Dr. Lai is Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, North Vancouver, British Columbia.)

• Blessing Same-Sex Couples -- Asian Cultural Perspectives (October, 2004)

André Lavergne ~ A member of the planning team for the Kitchener/Waterloo Conference Caring Conversations series, Pastor André Lavergne serves in a team ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church, New Hamburg, Ontario.

• Toward an Affirmation of Welcome (revised October, 2004)
• The Blessing of Same- Sex Couples: A Pastoral Journey (March, 2005)

Harold Remus ~ A member of the planning team for the Kitchener/Waterloo Conference Caring Conversations series and a member of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Kitchener, Dr. Harold Remus is Professor Emeritus, Religion & Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University, retired Adjunct Professor, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary and Past President of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies. An ordained Lutheran pastor, he was the Founding Managing Editor of Religious Studies Review and is the author of many books and articles related to New Testament studies.

• Disputed Issues in Christian History: Their Scriptural and Historical/Cultural Settings (October, 2002; revised February, 2003 and July, 2004 and November, 2011)
• Same-Sex Bible Passages (October, 2002; revised February, 2003 and July, 2004 and December, 2004 and October, 2011 and November, 2011)
• Significant References in the Bible to the Sodom and Gomorrah Story (October, 2002; revised February, 2003 and July, 2004 and December, 2004 and November, 2011).
• Words, Words, Words: On the Role of Language in Current ELCIC Discussions (December, 2004)

Colleen Shantz ~ Colleen Shantz is assistant professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. (2011: Associate Professor with emphasis on New Testament Social World, Social Scientific Approaches, Early Christian Religious Experience and Cognitive Science of Religion.)

• Life in Community: A Gospel Witness (April, 2005)

David Schnasa Jacobsen ~ An ordained pastor of the United Methodist Church attending St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Kitchener, Dr. David Schnasa Jacobsen is an Associate Professor of Homiletics at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. (2011: Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and the Director of the Homiletical Theology Project, Boston University School of Theology.)

• Bibliography for the Workshop "Preaching the Hard Texts" (February, 2003).
• The Role of Language in Considering the Issue of Same-Sex Blessings (December, 2004)

Peter VanKatwyk ~ An ordained Lutheran pastor, Dr. Peter VanKatwyk is recently retired as Director of the Pastoral Counselling Programs and Professor of Pastoral Care and Counselling at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. For 25 years he maintained a therapy practice at Kitchener’s Interfaith Pastoral Counselling Centre where he directed clinical education programmes as a supervisor with the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE) and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT). He is the author of various books on pastoral care and therapy.

• Pastoral Issues Related to the Blessing of Same-Sex Couples (October, 2004)

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Eastern Synod + ELCIC