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Leaders of Lutheran Groups Meet
Leaders of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC), Lutheran CORE and the WordAlone Network met jointly in a Minneapolis suburb in mid-January to discuss and coordinate their ministry to individuals and churches seeking biblical, confessional, Lutheran teaching and practice. The three groups were founded over the past 15 years because the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been moving away from accepting the Bible as its final source of authority in decision making.
Some ELCA members and churches are leaving the denomination because of this drift from the authority of the Bible. Others are staying in the ELCA but are protesting the assembly votes, some by withholding financial giving.
William Drew, chair of the WordAlone Board of Directors, Spokane, Wash., noted the three confessional groups discussed during their meeting a cohesive approach to address the needs of Lutherans seeking faithful ways to move forward in a reconfigured North American Lutheranism.
WordAlone is changing its direction from having worked to renew the ELCA for almost 15 years to serving confessional individuals and churches, whether they stay in or leave the ELCA, by providing educational resources, pastoral care, fellowship opportunities and teaching by confessional theologians.
“The LCMC Board of Trustees very much appreciated the opportunity to sit down with the board of WordAlone and with the working group from Lutheran CORE,” said the Rev. William Sullivan, LCMC service coordinator, Canton, Mich. “What emerged from the meeting was a strong consensus that we all share the same goal of a Word-centered, mission-driven Lutheran presence in North America. All agreed that each group has a particular niche to fill in the years ahead.”
LCMC, constituted in March of 2001, is an association of 297 Lutheran congregations in eight countries and 38 states, working together to fulfill Christ's Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations. Since August, 2009, LCMC’s ranks have swelled by 74 congregations departing the ELCA.
Ryan Schwarz, the chair of Lutheran CORE’s Vision and Planning Working Group, Washington, D.C., said, “We were particularly pleased to find consensus that Lutheran CORE and LCMC are ‘fraternal twins’ traveling on ‘parallel tracks,’ with both benefiting greatly from the contributions of WordAlone. We look forward to the prospect of substantial cooperation in mission and ministry with LCMC, and continued collaboration with WordAlone, as we move forward.”
He added, “WordAlone was instrumental in the founding of both LCMC and Lutheran CORE, and its varied ministries are critical to Lutheran CORE’s efforts to catalyze a reconfiguration of North American Lutheranism.” The recent meeting included the first formal discussions between leadership of LCMC and Lutheran CORE.
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GJ - Some will leave ELCA for a Pietistic group that turns back the clock a few years. Others are trying the old Synodical Conference churches.
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Jim Becker WELS has left a new comment on your post "ELCA Come Outters":
I'm a little confused. If LCMC and Augustana are Confessional and Scriptural, is there a conflict with having women pastors? Or will these churches put carryover ELCA Doctrine ahead of true Confessionalism? Will these new associations interpret the Bible from a historical-literal, historical-critical, or historical-liberal approach? Why aren't these "Confessionals" looking at Missouri, WELS, or the CLC?
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GJ - There will be many more flavors in the future. Some will have women pastors. Perhaps most of them will. Why not? WELS has women pastors without ordination or even an explanation. WELS has women teaching men, whenever and wherever possible. Tiefel made a point of doing this at his pan-denominational worship conferences.
Tiefel had Missouri teach WELS back at the first conference at Carthage College (ELCA), so what is the big deal about Jeske teaching Missouri? - Reciprocity of the fourth genus: genus Wauwatosum.
That old liberal Methodist had it right. When women take over a role in the church, men will no longer take that office. Sunday School teaching is for women, and men hardly ever teach Sunday School. In my first LCA call, the men taught all the Sunday School classes except kindergarten, and a man was the superintendent.
In all-women congregations, where the pastor and council members are women, there are very few men in attendance. Look at the infamous HerChurch in ELCA.
