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The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination will finally speak with a collective voice this month on whether to allow gay and lesbian pastors and on whether same-sex couples may receive rites of blessing. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, whose biennial Churchwide Assembly meets August 8-14 in Orlando, is one of the last mainline church bodies to act on the controversies. Few figure that the ELCA’s debates will end in Orlando.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has turned down a proposed resolution that would have given congregations a “local option” to conduct blessings for same-sex unions.

The motion—drafted by the ELCIC’s Church Council and needing a two-thirds majority to pass—received only 183 votes in favor while 220 delegates voted against it during the July 21-24 convention in Winnipeg.