Convocation Inaugurates New Lutheran Body

Righteously disaffected from ELCA progressivism, the new North American seeks to be faithful to the creeds, the canon, and its congregations.
August 28, 2010
David Neff

In March I wrote my “Past Imperfect” column about two denominational start ups: the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), which formed in 2009, and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which formed in 2010—indeed, yesterday.

On Friday, 1100 Lutherans, rightly and righteously disaffected from the once gigantic, now shrinking Evangelical Lutheran Church, formally adopted a constitution at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio.

Here is a key statement from the NALC’s detailed press release:

‘The NALC will embody the center of Lutheranism in America. The NALC will uphold
confessional principles dear to Lutherans including a commitment to the authority of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. Members and congregations of the NALC will have direct involvement in the decisions and life of the NALC,’ said the Rev. Mark Chavez of Landisville, Pa., director of Lutheran CORE.

The issue of authority surfaces three ways in Chavez’s statement: (1) the role of the Bible (as contrasted with culture and the “bound conscience” of the autonomous self), (2) the role of the creeds and confessions (as contrasted with contemporary conventional wisdom), and (3) the role of the constituent churches (as opposed to bodies composed by quota systems). the rest