Over 40 new congregations have joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) since the beginning of 2010, with many of the churches made up of immigrant populations.

The Rev. Stephen P. Bouman, executive director for the ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission (EOCM), called the 41 "new starts" a sign of "hope for our beloved church" in the Easter season.

"Each one of these 41 new starts represents renewed relationships at the ground level of this church, renewed confidence in God's guidance and abundance, and renewed resolve that the ELCA, in good times and bad, will be a church in mission," Bouman told the ELCA News Service. "God's call for the church to be in mission is a deep and abiding call, and it is always a top priority for Christ's Body in the world."

Bouman added that the new congregations "represent what America is becoming, as 23 (of the 41 new starts) are among immigrant populations."

So far, 12 of the new churches have become official "worshipping communities" authorized by the ELCA's 65 synods, which means that they are "communities with ministry potential," according to the Rev. Marcy C. Frances, assistant director for new evangelizing congregations, EOCM.

According to Frances, there is no predefined model for a "worshipping community."

"It is whatever one can envision. Anything is possible," she said, adding that the ELCA wants to "encourage innovation rather than stifle something that's not readily apparent."

"If we are willing to engage the community seriously, than we have to be willing to do things differently," she told ELCA News Service.

While a hopeful start for the ELCA in 2010, the group's officials also acknowledge that the growth comes in the midst of a difficult time of separation within the church, much of it having to do with a 2009 decision from the ELCA General Assembly to allow the ordination of gay clergy.

So far over 60 ELCA congregations have made votes to leave the denomination, with 200 more indicating that they will follow suit.

Many groups, like East Lake Andes Lutheran Church in South Dakota, have opted to join the smaller and more conservative Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), which has added 163 new congregations to its membership since last August.

"When the [ELCA] assembly made its decision related to gay clergy, we think it was a re-interpreting or ignoring of the Bible," Mike Bryant, council president for East Lake Andes, which finalized its denominational change this week, told local sources. "We felt it was so clear that same-gender sexual behavior was sinful. That was the bigger issue."

ELCA congregations that wish to leave the denomination must vote twice on the decision, with the votes separated 90 days apart from each other.

The decision is then presented to the congregation's governing synod for final approval.

Some ELCA congregations, however, have joined the LCMC while votes are still pending, leaving them with a "dual relationship" with both denominations.

Theodore C. Rice, pastor of St. Peter Lutheran Church in Fort Pierce, Fla., was caught in such a situation after his church's governing body denied his request to the leave the ELCA based on mission related reasons.

"The synod council prayed about this decision, and for missional reasons, we felt we could not approve this," Bishop Edward R. Benoway of the Florida-Bahamas Synod told the ELCA News Service, adding that there was no other ELCA congregation in Fort Pierce.

Rice, however, has said that his congregation will no longer associate itself with the ELCA nor participate in its events.

"How are they going to work with us? We completely disagree with them," Rice said. "There's nothing we can do. They don't want to let us off the rolls. We joined LCMC, and that's where we'll do our ministry."

Bouman noted that while serious disagreements continue to be prevalent in the ELCA, "if the U.S. economy continues to struggle, God's call to mission is being blessed by the Spirit in the midst of it all."