Posted: Friday, January 27, 2012
Grace Lutheran Church of Eau Claire was ordered Friday by a Polk County judge to postpone its annual meeting, which was scheduled for Sunday.
Judge Molly GaleWyrick approved a temporary restraining order by estranged members of the church. The group also requested, in part, that the judge remove church council members and restrain spending and borrowing by church members associated with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.
The Rev. Rolf Nestingen, senior pastor at Grace Lutheran Church who attended Friday's hearing, said the judge "granted only one of those things, that is that we not hold our annual meeting. She also said that we operate on last year's budget with the same leadership, and that we not spend any extraordinary amounts of money."
Nearly 70 members of Grace Lutheran Church filed a civil suit against the church and its council in November, asking a judge to declare that the longtime Eau Claire church remains solely affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In court documents, the plaintiffs are referred to as Grace Lutheran Church-ELCA, and the defendants as Grace Lutheran Church-LCMC.
The Grace Lutheran Church council voted last April to also join the more conservative Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ after a vote to disaffiliate with the ELCA failed to receive the two-thirds supermajority needed.
Friday's court hearing was the result of the plaintiffs' asking for a temporary injunction to postpone Grace Lutheran Church's annual meeting.
GaleWyrick ruled she has jurisdiction to rule on a request by the defendant Grace Lutheran Church-LCMC's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Grace Lutheran Church-ELCA members who now worship at a neighboring church under the title "Amazing Grace."
A hearing is scheduled May 31 in Eau Claire on that request.
"We had 45 people there (at the hearing) from the congregation, and only one from their side," Nestingen said Friday. "They got a little token win, and we get to move forward the next few months and operate the way we've been operating into the future."
Grace will hold a congregational meeting Feb. 5, "for the purposes of disseminating information of the lawsuit and bringing people up to speed on that," Nestingen said.
"This coming Sunday, we would have adopted a new budget, elected new officers and conducted other business. In effect, this suspends our ability to do all that," he said. "We'll just operate with the same leadership we had."
Nestingen said the lawsuit and turmoil over the congregational split "has strengthened us. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but 45 people were willing to come up there and stand tall for us, and drive one and a half hours each way in bad weather. That says something about the commitment among our members."
Nestingen also voiced concerns about judges "telling churches how to operate. It's also a story about violation of church and state, about denying people of the freedoms of assembly, religion and speech."
Attorney Drew Ryberg, who represents the plaintiffs, said in a prepared statement Friday that the most important ruling the judge made was that "she has jurisdiction, rejecting First Amendment arguments."
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