The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has dramatically loosened its regulations on homosexuality, and is now receiving pastors from a group that supports ministers of sexual minorities.

Last week, the ELCA Church Council authorized a rite to receive ministers from Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, a Chicago-based non-profit that provides financial assistance, pastoral care, and legal advice to LGBT pastors.

Through the rite, which is officially called the "Reception to the Roster of Ordained Ministers with Prayer and the Laying on of Hands," the council intends to receive 17 ELM pastors who "were not previously on the ELCA clergy roster or on the roster of ordained ministers of a predecessor church body; who have been approved by a candidacy committee of a synod; and who have received a call in the church," according to the ELCA News Service.

According to the Rev. Robert G. Schaefer, executive, ELCA Worship and Liturgical Resources the rite is intended to be one that "brings liturgical expression to the deep desire … for reconciliation both in this church and within the Church catholic."

"It intends to recognize what the ELCA has not yet recognized. At the same time (the rite) is intended to be recognizable by world Lutheran ecumenical partners, echoing patterns that are important for ordination," Schaefer told ELCA News Service.

The council's acceptance of the new ministers comes as a part of a series of sweeping revisions made the group to abolish any anti-gay rhetoric in the church's policies against those who wish to serve as clergy members or professional lay leaders.

The ELCA will also be reinstating ministers who were removed from their positions for openly declaring their homosexuality.

"This is the work of many -- hundreds, thousands of people who have reflected, thought and prayed," said the Rev. Stanley N. Olson, executive director of ELCA Vocation and Education. "We are still a church that is tense over this, but we are Easter people, and I think we have done an Easter thing today."

The Rev. Cindi Love, executive director of pro-gay group Soulforce, said in a statement that, "The ELCA has conducted itself with grace and dignity, and many of us are longing for some of that type of public civility. Their example is going to make people within other embattled denominations long for a better process within their own communities."

Meanwhile, the more conservative Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) released a document last month detailing the "theological implications" of the ELCA stance on homosexuality, especially regarding the authority of scripture.

"Some believe that the Bible's relevance to contemporary moral questions is not decisive, arguing that what the Bible says is culturally bound, conditioned by the limited understanding of its human authors," states the document. From this perspective, the biblical references that condemn homosexual acts as sinful "are of limited relevance today."

According to the task force statement, the 2009 ELCA decisions are based on a view of Scripture that leads to the conclusion that "so long as differing moral perspectives on homosexual acts are held in good conscience, other Christians and the church ought to respect the validity of a variety of perspectives."

In contrast, the LCMS's view of Scripture's authority holds that "God is their primary author and every word of Scripture is His word." It also holds the Scriptures to be "understandable and truthful in their plain or simple meaning and that no other writing, understanding, or experience may call into question that meaning."

According to the document, this view, "leads us to affirm that where the Bible speaks clearly regarding matters of human values, conduct, or behavior, such teachings may not be denied or qualified, but must have continuing relevance in every era of the Church."

Human sexuality "must be understood in the context of what God, our Creator, has revealed in the Scriptures about marriage," it continues. "The Bible reminds us that God created man and woman for one another," and being united in marriage, this union "may also result in the procreation of children."

"Such a view of marital sexuality can only be heterosexual in nature," the document states. "The LCMS believes and teaches that same-gender genital sexual activity -- in every situation -- violates the will of our Creator and must be recognized as sin."

Doubts over the ELCA's commitment to scripture were raised recently by a Lutheran bishop in Tanzania, who said that the church's decision to ordain openly gay clergy and conduct same-sex marriages goes "against the Holy Bible."

ELCA Presiding Bishop the Rev. Mark S. Hanson responded by declaring that the church has a "strong commitment to the centrality of the Word of God" – a statement he affirmed again during the group's recent council meeting.

Addressing all ELCA members as well as the council, Hanson said the word of God is alive in the ELCA because the simple fact that, "Christ is risen."

"Through that living word of God that is both law and gospel, we encounter the truth about ourselves: that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves," Hanson said. "But we also encounter the liberating word of God that on account of Christ we are forgiven."

"We are reconciled not only to God, but to one another," he continued. "This living word of God frees us -- its frees us for lives of faith, it sets us free to proclaim the risen Christ, it sets us free to serve our neighbor, it sets us free to strive for justice and peace. It sets us free to be about the ministry of reconciliation."

"The word of God is alive in the ELCA because we are people of faith," he said.