I've visited churches belonging to all of these, with the exception of Protes'tant, but I am well aquainted (sic) with several Protes'tant families. I also know one AFLC church and its pastor quite well, but because their denomination is so decentralized, I hesitate to say I know the denomination because I know one church.
I have visited at around 100 LCMS/LCC) churches in three countries, all the way from Hong Kong and the West Coast to the East Coast, the South, both the cities and rural Midwest, and the Great Plains. I have a good idea what Missouri is like. Missouri varies greatly depending on where you are. In some places, closed communion is not normal and not expected. In some places, churches are expected not to interfere with couples living together outside of marriage. I've communed with both a Protes'ant and an ELCA friend of mine together at the same time at an LCMS church. I've listened to a band perform "Carry On Wayward Son" for the offeratory (sic). I've taken communion from a woman distributing it. Once I even saw the deaconess do the litury (sic) and preach the sermon because the pastor wasn't there.
I am only well acquainted with one LCMS church that still practices male-only sufferage (sic), but I stopped going there because the pastor is a millenalist (sic). Still, otherwise he was quite orthodox, even devoting one sermon (the 5 year anniversary of the Benke incident) to condemning that act of unionism.
I've attended conservative political action meetings in the Missouri Synod. The last one I attended featured a speaker that held pastors had the right to excommunicate by personal fiat. Not a single pastor or layman there challeged (sic) him on that point, but one old-Missourian retired district president left the meeting in protest.
How much of the Missouri Synod are you familar (sic) with. How well do your experiences really match your claim?
I'm of the view that WELS, ELS, CLC, and Protes'tant pastors are more conservative than the vast majority of LCMS pastors. All four of these all practice male-only sufferage (sic). Church Growth has only made baby steps in the ELS and its intrusion into the WELS has met widespread opposition.
Username: Random_layman
Full Name: Jojakim Dettmann
E-mail Address: lutherquest@gmail.com
Last Logged In: November 21, 2009
Registered: May 03, 2006
Total Posts: 1462
Status: Senior Member
Denomination: Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Positions Held (elder, pastor, layman, teacher, etc.): layman
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GJ - Obviously he has not read this blog or FIC or paid attention to Growthism in WELS and the Little Sect on the Prairie.
