MINNEAPOLIS — If the largest Lutheran Church body in North America splits over a recent controversial vote on gay clergy, the foundation likely will be laid this weekend.

Opponents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's recent vote to permit gay ministers are meeting in Indianapolis, where the No. 1 item on the agenda: "A possible reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism."

Organizers of the annual Lutheran CORE meeting were unprepared for the huge response, finally capping attendance after 1,200 people signed up — far beyond the 300 who show up in an average year.

The ELCA, which represents about 800,000 Minnesota Lutherans, voted in Minneapolis last month to allow actively gay ministers to lead parishes, if a parish calls them to serve. But that vote did not come without strong dissent and debate over several days.

CORE's agenda shows the issue is far from settled.

"I'm very excited" about the meeting's potential, said the Rev. Dave Glesne of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley, Minn. "We were grieving after the vote in August; we were very deeply saddened by that. But this is a new day."

Lutheran CORE leaders hope to appoint a steering committee to explore the group's options: Stay with the ELCA and work to change its policy, join a different Lutheran denomination or form a new one. The last option is generating the most pre-convention buzz. But whatever it concludes, the steering committee won't report back until next year's convention.

"I wouldn't expect any major decisions for at least a year," Glesne said. "It's like someone going through a bad divorce: You don't want to jump right back into a marriage."

The convention began Friday afternoon and ends Saturday. Glesne thinks that the short duration is an advantage because it's enough time to discuss an action plan but not enough time to implement one.

"We don't want a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "We will have time to set forth a process and get people in place to lead the process. Then we can take our time to shape that process." Earlier this week, the Rev. Pull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE and pastor of a Pennsylvania church, urged members not to do anything rash. He told the newspaper Christian News that he is "encouraging people to remain in the ELCA — for now. I, myself, intend to remain on the ELCA clergy roster and remain a member of an ELCA congregation."

No one knows how many Minnesota Lutherans belong to Lutheran CORE, an umbrella group for several reform organizations, said the Rev. Scott Grorud.

"Until now, it's been a very loose organization," he said. (That's another matter that will be addressed at the convention, which will vote on a constitution.) "But I can tell you that since the ELCA vote, our phones have been ringing off the hook."

Because the convention's registration was not done by locale, it isn't known how many Minnesotans will attend.

On Wednesday, Bishop Mark Hanson, the Minneapolis native who leads the 4.6 million-member ELCA, sent a letter to ministers and lay leaders warning about "wounds we inflict on ourselves."

"I am disappointed that some are encouraging congregations and members to take actions that will diminish our capacity for ministry," he wrote. "Specifically, I ask for restraint from decisions that may separate us from one another prematurely."