REVISED LIST OF CONGREGATIONS VOTING TO LEAVE THE ELCA SINCE AUGUST 2009

DavidBarnhart.com ^ | 1/7/12 | David Barnhart

[rhema]

We recently made extensive revisions to this list. As of January 1, 2012 we show 616 congregations that have successfully taken the required two votes to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Another 31 congregations have successfully taken one sucessful vote to date. The total members lost to the ELCA from these congregations stands at 313,799.

PLEASE INFORM US OF ANY ADDITIONS OR CORRECTIONS THAT SHOULD BE MADE TO THIS LIST.

ALASKA 1**
** St. Paul Lutheran Church, Kodiak NALC

ARIZONA 10**

[ . . . . ]

[lightman]

Evangelical catholic, eh? This might be right up your alley:

Strange as a reform movement within a reform movement may sound, there is a pan-Lutheran (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) oratory of biblically conservative, liturgically steeped clergy that has gathered for mutual support and to resist the tide of modernity.

I encourage you to check out the website of the Society of the Holy Trinity http://www.societyholytrinity.org Read the page on "The Rule" http://www.societyholytrinity.org/rule.htm, paying particular attention to the section entitled "Parish Practices".Members of the Society are deeply committed to the weekly Eucharist, Private Confession and Absolution, and the public recitation of the Daily Office

Then look at the membership directory http://www.societyholytrinity.org/stswebdirectory.htm to see if there are any STS members serving a congregation within a reasonable driving distance. Although not every parish is practicing every aspect of the Rule at this time, most subscriber clergy are committed to working toward those goals and have a deliberate plan to achieve them incrementally. These clergy would be delighted to receive visitors and/or new members who share those commitments.

[rzman21]

I went to Valpo my freshman year, and the professor said Luther never wanted to break with Rome.

I’ve often wondered how things would have turned out if had Luther had recourse to the Eastern Orthodox. Would he have become Orthodox instead of founding his own group after his excommunication?

[lightman]

I’ve often wondered how things would have turned out if had Luther had recourse to the Eastern Orthodox. Would he have become Orthodox instead of founding his own group after his excommunication?

A very good question, indeed.

The Lutheran Confessions contain very little to indict Orthodoxy; the invocation of the Saints and the Mass as sacrifice do have some relevance.

It is worthy of note that the Confessions do explicitly--and affirmingly--refer to Mary as the Theotokos.

[rzman21]

I think the Lutheran Confessions were a reaction against the presumptions of the Thomists more than anything else.

The former president of the LCMS said he rejected consubstantiation and said that Jesus was present because he said he would be, and any attempt to describe it was worthless and futile.

That sounds awfully Eastern to me. The Eastern Churches in union with Rome aren’t required to accept the whole bit about substance and accidents, etc.

And the Lutheran Confessions are not unlike Orthodoxy when it comes to prayers for the dead.

From the Apology of the Augsburg Confession:

The adversaries also falsely cite against us the condemnation of Aerius, who, they say, was condemned for the reason that he denied that in the Mass an offering is made for the living and the dead. They frequently use this dexterous turn, cite the ancient heresies, and falsely compare our cause with these in order by this comparison to crush us. [The asses are not ashamed of any lies. Nor do they know who Aerius was and what he taught.] Epiphanius testifies that Aerius held that prayers for the dead are useless. With this he finds fault. Neither do we favor Aerius...

http://bookofconcord.org/defense_23_mass.php

Another thing I’ve sometimes wondered is how American Christianity might be different had Lutherans been the predominate sect rather than the Calvinists.