Earlier this month Evangelical Dark Web reported on how the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod excommunicated whistleblower Ryan Turnipseed in retaliation for pointing out the liberalism in the LCMS’s new edition of Luther’s Larger Catechism which includes new annotations. Ryan Turnipseed’s findings disrupted the reputation of the LCMS as a solidly conservative denomination, instead highlighting the liberal underbelly in the Lutheran camp. Now, Ryan Turnipseed has announced he has a new church home within the LCMS.
On Monday Trunipseed announced that he had been cleared for membership in Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas, presenting an open letter written and signed by the pastor, Rev. Mark Lovett.
The letter details how they investigated the claims brought against Ryan Turnipseed and found there to be no merit after hours of interviews. The letter also mentions how the leadership at First Lutheran Church, Ponca City rebuffed reconciliatory efforts. Moreover, Lovett details how the charges lacked scriptural support and that they did not follow a procedure of due process.
Note: a minor ban in Lutheran polity is a denial of the Lord’s Table, and a major ban is excommunication.
Lovett claims that none of the charges were excommunicable and that he told the regional leader that he would accept Turnipseed if First Lutheran Church went through with their excommunication.
Immanuel Lutheran Chruch’s defiance of First Lutheran Church’s major ban is a direct confrontation within Lutheran polity and a confrontation that Lovett made to avoid the precedent that excommunicating whistleblowers sets. Whether this will be escalated further is developing. But credit to the pastors at Immanuel Lutheran Church for the fortitude to do what’s right.
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It would be funnier if a Baptist going to a Baptist church that never step foot in a Lutheran church, was excommunicated for talking about the changes in the Catechisms.