Original sentence: The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches and currently has about 4,633,887 baptized members
Edited sentence: Many entire churches have voted to leave the ELCA or are in the process of doing so.Memebership is falling sharply after a decision last summer to allow homosexual clergy to practice in the church.The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches and currently has about 4,633,887 baptized members according to the ELCA itself but the ELCA does not keep accurate membership records and has members on the books that no longer consider themselves members of the ELCA