New Job Has A Familiar Ring -- Pastor Who Helped Save Duluth Church Faces Similar Task

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Gethsemane Lutheran Church is at 911 Stewart St. Sunday services are at 8:45 and 11 a.m. -------------------------------------------------------------------

The situation seemed daunting.

Once the proud mother church of downtown Duluth, the Gloria Dei Lutheran congregation had dwindled to 250 members. Their average age was 68. Synod leaders had warned the church soon might die. And some younger members of the congregation had begun to disclose their homosexuality.

But the church did not fragment or close, said The Rev. John Engstrom, who led that Minnesota church for 10 years. It began to grow. Today its membership is near 400. It mixes young and old, gays and straights. The congregation, founded by Swedish residents, now includes some Southeast Asian immigrants and African Americans.

Asked what he did, Engstrom turned the spotlight elsewhere. He credited church members who were committed to making the church work, even if it meant change for themselves. He said "these marvelous old Swedes" would rush to the church doors on Sundays, welcoming visitors - street people and others - "with open arms, making them feel like long-lost sisters and brothers."

As for the homosexuality issue, Engstrom said church members struggled with it. But they concluded they had loved those who were homosexual long before they knew their sexual identity. They had seen them grow from children into young adults.

"I think they were just forced to swallow hard and say, `So what. Let's get on with it.' " said Engstrom.

Now Engstrom has a new job, but in very similar circumstances.

He was installed last Sunday as pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle. The church, with its roots in the Swedish community, is 108 years old. It is the oldest Lutheran church in the city. But it is struggling to build up its 325-member congregation. Debate over homosexuality has cost the church members.

Is Engstrom daunted? Hardly.

"They love the church. They want to make it go," said Engstrom, referring especially to the younger members who grew up in the church.

Engstrom, 52, is stepping in at a time of hope and anticipation.

Church leaders are hopeful the divisiveness from the debate over homosexuality - specifically, what leadership roles gays and lesbians should be playing at Gethsemane - is behind them. And they hope the membership is ready to move forward in its downtown ministry.

At the same time, all congregations are about to begin discussing a new draft report on human sexuality.

It was released by an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America task force last week. Homosexuality is one aspect of the report, which also discusses marriage, parenting, teenage sexuality and sexual abuse, among other subjects.

Engstrom, Bishop Lowell Knutson, head of the ELCA's Northwest Washington Synod, and the Rev. Eldon Olson, a Seattle member of the ELCA task force on human sexuality, called for open, respectful dialogue, rather than polarization in the upcoming discussions.

"You must somehow have the spirit of openness and trust with one another that allows discussion of any sensitive issue without it blowing us out of the water," said Engstrom, a Minneapolis native who with his wife, Charlotte, arrived in Seattle earlier this month.

Jean Anderson, president of the Gethsemane congregation, said church members were looking for a gifted preacher who also was a caring pastor and a sound, biblically based theologian.

The person had to be supportive of children, be able to work with a mix of generations, have inner-city ministerial experience, and be open to all.

She acknowledged the church had struggled with homosexuality. It had asked Engstrom for his views on whether gays and lesbians should have the same privileges as everyone else in the church, including being able to share in leading worship services.

"Basically, he is open. How can we judge? God chooses to love all of us. How can we choose whom we are to love and not to love?" said Anderson, characterizing Engstrom's response.

Engstrom said he tried to get the Gloria Dei congregation in Duluth to think biblically, as he hopes members of Gethsemane will.

"If any human being has been given the gift of faith, what does that mean? There are many of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who obviously have been given the gift of faith. If we start thinking that through logically, unless we believe in some cruel, manipulative God, that just doesn't possibly mean we can exclude them," he said.

Both Engstrom and Anderson envision a joyful church, growing in numbers and diversity, with a continuing commitment to social ministry. "We are not just another club on the corner," said Engstrom.

He added that people really are looking for two things when they come to church these days: community and compassion. "It's a jungle out there," he said. "People are crying out for a safe haven."

Conversely, Engstrom said he is very concerned about the violence and abuse in the world: "Violence is something we ought to be jumping up and down about, but here we are caught up in this thing about how can a few of our brothers and sisters be different sexually."

He added he does not mean to minimize people's views on homosexuality, a subject bound to loom larger as congregations, including Gethsemane, begin to review the ELCA task force's draft report.

"Talk about sexuality has been buried for so long. It really reveals a raw nerve, . . ." Engstrom said.

The 21-page report took four years. It is subject to comment for the next eight months. A second draft then will be written. The proposed social statement on the church and human sexuality will be up for adoption at the ELCA's churchwide assembly in 1995.

The report deals with a wide range of questions about human sexuality from a biblical and theological perspective. On the issue of homosexuality, the report noted there are three general responses within the church: To love the sinner and hate the sin; to tolerate committed homosexual relations; and to affirm them.

Olson, the Seattle pastoral counselor who is a member of the task force, said the problem the 17-member panel had with the first response was that it "is sometimes expressed in such a way that it precludes any further conversation." The panel fluctuated between the second two responses, without making a recommendation.

Knutson said that although homosexuality may get the public's attention, to him the most important dimension of the report is the opportunity everyone has to better understand their own sexuality.

The report proclaims the created goodness of human sexuality, underscores responsible freedom, affirms marriage and speaks out against all forms of sexual abuse.

The report, however, does not answer all questions, even the ones it raises, such as the morality of a just, loving, committed relationship between people of the same sex.

The task force prays "for the grace to avoid unfair judgment of those with whom we differ, the patience to listen to those with whom we disagree, and the love to reach out to those from whom we are divided."

Those are familiar sentiments to Engstrom, who is succeeding the Rev. Paul Eriks and the Rev. Don Clinton, interim pastor, at Gethsemane.

As he looks to Gethsemane's future, Engstrom says to all who will hear, "Come on in. This is where you can experience the love of God. This is where we struggle, where we're learning to grow up together. This is where we try to make the life, death and resurrection of Jesus a reality for everyone - no limits. Here is a place where it is safe to be."