Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, will likely be in the “spotlight” in the weeks ahead.  Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, now running for Vice President on the ticket with Kamala Harris, has said publicly that Pilgrim Lutheran Church is “my parish,” and has regularly referred to Pilgrim Lutheran as his church. 
 
The Christian Post made an effort to find out more about the church, but discovered much of its website content is no longer accessible.  They were able to peruse Pilgrim’s latest newsletter, however.  You can read what they found here.
 
Pilgrim is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) widely, considered one of the most left-leaning denominations in the country.  The denomination has been a leader of LGBTQ causes.  They issued a handbook in 2020 to provide guidance to its affiliated churches titled, Lutheran Introduction to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity & Gender Expression.
 
The theology at Pilgrim is clearly “woke” and gender obsessed.  The Christian Post watched a livestream of a recent church service and noted that its pastor led the congregation in “The Lord’s Prayer.”  However, he dropped the normal opening of “Our Father” and replaced it with “Our guardian, our mother, our father in Heaven…”
 
Pilgrim Lutheran has a “partnership” with Reconciling Works, a pro-LGBTQ “ministry.”  They in turn have links with groups that support deforming surgeries, including the removal of healthy body parts from children, as “life-affirming” medical treatments.  Governor Walz has supported laws in Minnesota that reflect these radical gender views taught in his church.
 
The Christian Post has the full, sad story about the church’s transition into a party cell rather than a refuge of salvation.  It is no wonder that Harris picked someone like Walz, who seeks to cultivate an image of the homespun pew-sitter rather than the leftwing pol he is.
 
 
 
Shepherds for Sale?
 
Of course, these permutations are happening across many denominations, not just among Lutherans. An important new book detailing some of these challenges is streaking to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
 
Megan Basham, a widely published reporter for World and The Daily Wire, takes on this phenomenon in Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda. The book details the surprising endorsement by some Christian leaders of liberal candidates who have even pushed such radical steps as excluding Christian mothers and fathers from adoption and foster parenting if they refuse to embrace the LGBT cause.
 
Basham details how a network of activist billionaires, including George Soros, has funded many of these leaders in their drift away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the “Gospel of Woke.”  The book is getting plenty of attention, and it’s well worth your time.