Welcome to the North American Lutheran Church!

NALC ^ | 8/27/10

[SmithL]

The NALC embodies the theological center of Lutheranism in North America. It is a church body committed to the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life. In keeping with the Lutheran Confessions, we believe all doctrines should and must be judged by the teaching of Scripture.

The NALC is committed to shaping its life around four attributes: Christ-Centered, Mission-Driven, Traditionally-Grounded, and Congregationally-Focused.

The NALC is a renewed Lutheran community moving forward in faith and mission, focused on living out Christ’s Great Commission to go and make disciples. We hope that you will see the NALC as a church body that will enable your congregation to carry out its mission and ministry faithfully.

Come on board!

[AnalogReigns]

I think the practice of closed communion—that is communion reserved for denominational members only—is one big reason why NALC was formed. Orthodox evangelical former-ELCA congregations don’t want to join such a closed group such as the LCMS.

If the Church is invisible—and crosses denominational lines—(as even Roman Catholics acknowledge when they admit there are Christians outside of Roman Catholicism) then what right does a pastor have to deny holy Communion to a member in good standing of another part of the holy Catholic Church?

I never heard of Luther or Bugenhaggen denying communion to the many Christian visitors who came to worship and hear them preach.

[piasa]

I’ve never heard of an LCMS church with open communion. I remember a few people getting snitty for being turned away and recall one couple berating my pastor for refusing to hand out a get-out-of-confirmation-class-free card to their kid. Why these strange and silly gooses objected to making their kid attend I don’t know unless they knew he was too lazy to study or they were too lazy to drive him to church.

[lightman]

A new lifeboat has arrived!

[SmithL]

Welcome back! I trust all went well.

[AnalogReigns]

Closed communion (or “close” as some LCMSers call it) was standard practice in most if not all denominations up to say, 150 years ago. Then the idea came in that closely “fencing the table” was nearly impossible in practice (except when denying folk communion who were openly sinning, a practice which any church should follow) especially in larger churches. One just cannot know with any certainty at all, the status of the heart of a communicant, except in the most formal way (yes, they’ve been confirmed...so was Hitler as a R. Catholic, I think).

Also inroads were made with other denominations, (like the Reformed in Germany) when the German Protestant Church became unified (Lutheran (90%) and Reformed (less than 10%)) in the 1830s. These moves also happened to correspond with the development in scholarship of Higher Criticism in Germany....seeping over into England and the USA, which rejects the authority of Scripture.

This is why the LCMS was born—with German immigrants, in the 1830s and 40s, rejecting the earliest liberal theology (Higher Criticism) AND any sort of compromise or acknowledgement of the faith of other Protestants...specifically Calvinists (eg the Reformed).

This is to me what makes LCMS Lutherans so bewildering to other evangelical Christians such as myself. As a Calvinist, I have always been taught to have the highest admiration, agreement and respect for Martin Luther and his teachings...and yet conservative Lutherans have little if any regard for the serious bible scholarship of John Calvin.... So much so, that they in essence suspect I’m not even a Christian—since, their Communion table is closed to me.

I even accept the concept of the Real Presence of Jesus,in over, under, around and above, the Lord’s Supper, but, because I don’t join an LCMS congregation....your table is forbidden to me. To me, this is not the right hand of fellowship as I see in the New Testament—and in early Lutheranism.

I agree with probably 95% of evangelicals in America on this, that the Lord’s Table is His, and ought to be open to all baptized believers, who understand the gravity of holy Communion—and are reminded NOT to partake if they are not right with God, and their fellow man.