ELCA Sanctuary Church Designation

Last August, the churchwide assembly of the ELCA adopted a resolution designating the ELCA as a “sanctuary church body.”  This action received some media attention (including some misleading coverage), both at the time and since then.  What does it mean?

Many, if not most, official churchwide statements and resolutions are written by committees, and usually they sound like they were written by committees.  This year, our official church process proposed a carefully crafted resolution affirming the work of groups like Lutheran Immigration and Relief Services (LIRS), the churchwide ELCA effort to support children in Central America (AMMPARO), and projects undertaken by a number of individual synods.  Then, a motion came from the floor to amend the resolution to include a designation of the ELCA as a whole as a place of “sanctuary,” and after deliberation together, the assembly agreed to that amendment by a wide margin – the vote was 718-191.

In the ELCA, voting members of assemblies at the synod level (in our case, the Metro DC area) are selected by congregations, and at the churchwide level are chosen by synods.  But voting members are not considered “representatives” who are expected to vote according to the wishes of their “constituents.”  Rather, they are asked to gather as an assembly of the church and discern together where the Spirit is leading.  That’s why we don’t allow absentee voting, even at the congregational level – the process of meeting together, talking to and listening to one another as church, under the guidance of the Spirit, is part of how we can come to a conclusion that “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28).

So in this case, we can hope that the Spirit was leading the church to a place we might not have arrived at through the usual bureaucratic, committee process.  But now, together, as a church, we have to discern what that call looks like in practice.  Where, exactly, is the ELCA as a whole and Epiphany in particular, being called to go?

In part, this decision is nothing new.  We as the church are always called to be a refuge, a safe place, for those in danger or need.  The Scriptures tell us that “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1, a verse that inspired Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”).  As a congregation, we are meant to be a sanctuary, a safe place, for one another and for our neighbors who need one – for whatever reason.  This is what every Christian congregation is meant to be.

The challenge comes when we are invited to be a safe place for our neighbors who are different from us, whose experience of danger and whose need for sanctuary are different from ours.  Here at Epiphany we have become much more intentional in recent years about making sure we are a safe place where LGBTQ+ people are welcomed, affirmed, and celebrated as children of God.  And we’ve begun some initiatives to provide welcome and hospitality to some of the newest immigrants to our area.  Of course, we are all at the same time saints and sinners, and so we’ll always have more work to do to be better at providing sanctuary to everyone who needs it.  But our churchwide assembly has discerned that the Spirit is calling us to be particularly focused on not only being a better sanctuary, but also on letting people in our community know that we are trying to be a safe place for them too.

Is that being too political?  I don’t think so.  Christians of good will can, and do, disagree on the public policies that will best address complex questions like immigration – and our congregations also need to be safe spaces for people with a variety of different views on these questions to come together as fellow believers with respect for one another.  Being a safe place, a refuge, a sanctuary for everybody isn’t easy – especially as our country and our politics are getting more polarized and fragmented by the day.  Yet as Christians, what choice to we have?  Our God is a place of safety and refuge for all people, including us.  How can we not share the gift that has so freely been given to us?

So what does this mean for us at Epiphany?  I think our churchwide assembly is confirming what we also have been discerning as a congregation – that the Spirit is calling us to be even bolder in proactively getting out the word to anyone in our community who is searching for refuge, for a safe place, for a sanctuary where they will be welcomed as a child of God no matter what:  Epiphany Lutheran Church of Mount Vernon is here for you.  God loves you, and so do we.  And, together, we will figure out what that looks like.