Tanzanian Lutheran bishops reject aid from supporters of same-sex marriage in the U.S. and Europe

York Daily Record/Sunday News :-Recent statements from Tanzanian Lutheran bishops rejecting aid from supporters of same-sex marriage in the U.S. and Europe have not disrupted a local Lutheran body's relationship with the southern Tanzanian diocese of Konde, church officials say.

This spring, bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) said it would no longer accept money or help from groups that allow or support the legalization of same-sex marriages.

"Those in same-sex marriages, and those who support the legitimacy of such marriage, shall not be invited to work in the ELCT," says a statement posted to the church's website April 29.

"We further reject their influence in any form, as well as their money and their support."

The statement plainly distanced the ELCT from its longtime missionary partner and the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Last summer, the ELCA lifted restrictions on gays and lesbians in the pulpit and approved a broad, local option for congregations that wish to bless same-sex relationships.

Despite the Tanzanians' criticism, leaders of the ELCA's Lower Susquehanna Synod, which includes York and other counties in the midstate, said the announcement does not change the synod's near-20-year companion relationship with the Konde Diocese in southern Tanzania.

"Those in same-sex marriages, and those who support the legitimacy of such marriage, shall not be invited to work in the ELCT," says a statement posted to the church's website April 29.

"We further reject their influence in any form, as well as their money and their support."

"Konde continues to accepts funds from the congregations of the synod," the Rev. Clifton D. Eshbach, a spokesman for the synod, said by e-mail. "Our congregations that have companion congregation relationships (with Konde churches) continue to support their companion congregations in the diocese."

Eshbach noted there are two separate funding streams -- one flowing from the ELCA to the ELCT, and another from the Lower Susquehanna Synod to the Konde Diocese, supporting pastors' salaries, church construction, medical needs, educational scholarships and other diocesan programs.

Much of the ELCA's past financial support has supported dioceses in the northern part of Tanzania, while the Lower Susquehanna Synod supports Konde in the south.

"The ELCT memo is strong, but it may have more to do with national church to national church, than individual synod to individual diocese," Eshbach said.

"Bishop (Israel-Peter) Mwakyolile of the Konde Diocese has said in an e-mail that I was copied on, that our companion relationship is intact, and they would still be receiving financial gifts from the Lower Susquehanna Synod and its congregations. Our companion relationship is nearly 20 years old, and never in that time has anything been used (theology, money, etc.) as leverage or a wedge or an attempt to influence one or the other."

The Rev. Judy McKee, pastor of Union Lutheran Church in York, regularly corresponds with Mwakyolile and said, "There's every effort to continue the relationship unbroken."

McKee is among a group of 11 people from the synod planning a trip to Konde in July. She and husband Tom have hosted Mwakyolile when he's visited York on previous occasions.

"Both get a lot out of it," she said of the synod and diocese's relationship. "Supporting one another, sharing one another's joys and sorrows, praying for one another, the companionship of just knowing one another. It's a friendship, and it's important for friendships to continue."

On May 18, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson met with the Rev. Alex Malasusa, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT); as well as the president of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church, which has also criticized the ELCA's decisions on sexuality matters.

Malasusa declined to speak with the ELCA News Service after the meeting, but Hanson said he and the two leaders agreed to keep the content of their ongoing conversations confidential.

On May 18, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson met with the Rev. Alex Malasusa, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT); as well as the president of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church, which has also criticized the ELCA's decisions on sexuality matters.

"We believe that concerns are best worked out through church-to-church relationships rather than through public statements," he said.

Hanson repeated his earlier pledge to honor policies of the companion churches with regard to sending mission personnel or engaging in other ministries in each country.

The ELCA has two staff members in Tanzania, Revs. Robert and Janice Marie Lowden from the Baltimore area, who continue to serve at their posts, Eshbach said. The couple is scheduled to speak at the synod assembly next week at Messiah College in Grantham to lead a forum about their work.

Source:- York Daily Record/Sunday News