On Sunday, I will be entered into membership in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I will have officially left the ELCA, where I’ve been a member my whole life.
I know a lot of people are disgusted in the direction the LCMS is pointed in, but the LCMS taught me what it means to be Lutheran. If I hadn’t stumbled upon, or rather been brought Issues Etc. and the rest of Pirate Christian Radio by what I’m convinced was the work of the Spirit, there’s no telling where I’d be now. I was being blown about by the subjective, ever changing, winds of American Evangelicalism. When I started listening to PCR, and found out about this whole “Book of Concord” thing compiled by Lutherans long ago, I figured this was all stuff, I as a Lutheran ,should check it out. After all, the Augsburg Confession was in there, something the Lutherans had presented to the Church of Rome as a declaration of what they taught. That might be interesting to read, I thought.
What was written in the Confessions, and articulated by people like Pastors Wilken, Donofrio, and Cwirla, was unlike anything I had ever heard articulated by my ELCA pastors before. It stung me to the core and made me sick to my stomach realizing the utter garbage I heard and believed uttered by preachers on the radio.
I had found Lutheranism, or rather, Biblical Christianity. It was the most beautiful, simple, and yet complicated thing in the world, learning about the Law and the Gospel. Christ on the cross, about 2,000 yrs ago, was the point, the focus, of all Scripture It wasn’t about digging for Biblical principles on how to accomplish what God wanted all of us to do with our lives.
There is an LCMS church near me, and I started to attend to see if I could find this Law/Gospel preaching that I’d been hearing about. And I did find it, and I now appreciated hearing Christ crucified for my sins, and the sins of the world. I had never really analyzed the content of the sermons I heard in the ELCA, not using something like a Wilken diagnostic test so I couldn’t really say too much on the preaching I had heard. Yet I knew the direction the leadership of the ELCA wanted to take their church body. The Human Sexuality report was the last straw for me. I just had no reason to return to the ELCA churches I used to attend.
I know I can get the meat of the Gospel at the LCMS church, the LCMS taught me what it meant to be Lutheran and churned out products like the Book of Concord, the Treasury of Daily Prayer, LCMS pastors host great programs on PCR, so why should I stop attending?
Now I know there are still faithful ELCA pastors and laymen out there faithfully proclaiming and standing up for the Word of God and to that I say DON’T EVER STOP. Pastors preach the Word and teach the confessions. I don’t mean to paint the whole ELCA with a broad brush, I am merely describing my journey.
It would be hypocritical of me to tell people not to leave LCMS seeing as I have just exited the ELCA for many of the same argument used by critics of the Synod, so instead I’ll say what is echoed by our confessions:
Go where you can hear “the pure doctrine of the Gospel, and the administration of the Sacraments in accordance with the Gospel of Christ” (Apology to the Augsburg Confesion, Article VII:5)
Brett,
Welcome to the LCMS and all the challenges we face! I hope you’ve found a good “confessional” pastor and congregation to help in the journey.
I’m curious how you “stumbled” across PCR and Issues, etc.
We just featured your post on the Brothers of John the Steadfast website.
Thank you for a great post!
Tim Rossow
[...] left the ELCA, where I’ve been a member my whole life… (to read the rest of this post click here for the [...]
Brett,
Welcome to the LCMS. We have our own drama, but you’re coming for the right reasons.
Decent blogroll you’ve got there, too.
Jim,
It was quite by accident I found PCR and Issues Etc. Sometimes I think it was nothing other than the Holy Spirit trying to reveal the true faith to me.
I used to read the Internet Monk’s blog quite a bit, still do, it’s always a good read. One of his features, the Liturgical Gangstas, features Rev. Bill Cwirla as the Lutheran panelist. With the intro to every Liturgical Gangstas post, the Internet Monk briefly introduces each panelist, and with Cwirla, he’s got the God Whisperers podcast linked. So, I thought it might be good to listen to these Lutherans on TGW. Cwirla and Donofrio instantly brought traditional, confessional Lutheranism to me. They mentioned Issues Etc., and PCR one time, so I googled around found those sites, the floodgates and my eyes were both opened and I was hooked on all of it…It is the true faith once delivered to all the saints…
That’s awesome. Where are you from?
I’ve been LCMS all my life, but there were a couple of churches that I joined that were experimenting with church growth methods. We wondered if all the LCMS churches had gone this way, but Issues, Etc., showed us that the Gospel had not gone out from the LCMS, and that we don’t have to give up demanding it.
TGW is an awesome show, and you might be interested in Radical Grace for shows that stay directly on doctrinal issues. Of course, my show is technically focused on doctrinal issues, but I don’t comment during the show.
Keep in touch. Reach out both in your new congregation and in the Lutheran blogosphere. We have our pockets of pietism and antinomianism too, so don’t be discouraged.
Peace, and welcome!
Dan
Dan at NR,
Thank you for the warm welcome. I should add that I’m but 24, and live near Harrisburg, PA, in south central Pennsylvania. Yes, there are enclaves of confessional Lutherans out here too.
I like Radical Grace, and Table Talk radio as well.
Yeah I’m probably gonna start commenting on blogs around the confessional Lutheran blogosphere rather than the lurking I’ve been doing for months now.
I enjoy your blog, Dan, and I do listen to your segment too, like when I need to listen to something different at work when things start to go south.
Brett, welcome to the confessional part of Lutheranism. I know from my own experiences that you have a lot of growing and learning to do, just as I have. Please visit the CLCC Website at http://www.theclcc.org for some of the teaching materials we offer, all designed for the layman. You can contact me via that site. Blessings, Gene
Welcome to the family! My wife, daughter and I joined an LCMS church yesterday (the 16th) after a long journey in broad evangelicalism. We also were confronted with the historic liturgy, the Book of Concord and the historic creeds and confessions, and Issues, Etc.
It takes a lot of courage to let your convictions be changed by understanding Scriptural truth. Thanks be to God that he gave you the grace to trust what the Bible says and what Christians have believed and taught through the ages.
[...] August 2009 by Timotheos Here’s one (along with part 2). Here’s a congregation. I’ve also seen at least a couple on the [...]
Brett
Welcome to the family! Leaving the ELCA was hard I’m sure, but doctrinal reasons are the right reasons. At times we are a bit dysfunctional — but all the shows on PCR as well as the blogs will help you. I pray that your new congregation is confessional. I left the ELCA about 10 years when that Call to Common Mission stuff was happening. When I look back in my old RSV Bible I have all these goofy notes from Bible studies. Blessings on your continued journey.
Welcome to the LCMS Brett. We definitely have our own set of problems, but together we’re working on those through the power of the Spirit. Give me a “holler” if I can help you in any way.
Thank You Scott!
I think the LCMS can be saved, it isn’t too late. I intend on still staying as long as I can hear Christ crucified for my sins from the pulpit and receive the sacraments.
IMHO – It is only a matter of time before the ELCA shrinks into a very small denomination. LCMS and other confessional Lutheran bodies are benefitting in the short term. After so many ELCA Lutherans leave ELCA, how will confessional Lutheran churches such as LCMS continue to grow??
What do people mean that the LCMS can be saved? Saved from what? Unless you are talking about the “worship wars” happening in some congregations, I don’t understand your comment.
I often wonder why people that belong to such protestant churches such as Baptist, Bible, Methodist, non-denominational Christian, Presbyterian, etc. would never consider becoming a Lutheran……
James,
A lot of people, both clergy and laity, are displeased with a current movement among some factions of the LCMS to disregard the Scriptures and Confessions and move towards a contemporary non denominational model of church that has very little at all about it that is uniquely Lutheran. Also there are LCMS churches that practice open communion and the leadership of the synod seems to have an uncomfortably strong emphasis on being missional with the “Ablaze” movement without focusing on doing what Lutherans should do best: preaching sermons by dividing Law and Gospel.
I think the ELCA might split into several smaller splinter groups, depending on the particular practices they feel that they must cling to – open/closed communion, gay/straight pastors, women’s ordination, Biblical inerrancy, etc. In the longer term some of these splinter groups may end up merging or being swallowed up by some other mainstream denomination with similar teachings.
Most of us want to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We see the synod as that entity, and the bigger it is – the more correct it must be. If LCMS splits, it takes away a level of security. False security, to be sure, but security none the less. Our ultimate security comes only from being in the word correctly preached and the sacraments rightly distributed.
As far as others becoming a Lutheran, I can only speak from my own experience. We are all descendants of “pioneers” of one kind or another, people who came to these shores to do what they couldn’t do in their homeland. For some it was to be successful in a job or business. For others it was worshiping faithfully. I think that “can do” spirit is still deep down in most of us and our national psyche. We just can’t believe that it is as simple as the Bible and Luther actually present it. We feel like we must add something on our own – usually that is expressed as in we must know the date and time that we were “saved” or “accepted Jesus”. Lutherans point to our baptism, but that isn’t enough for most “evangelicals” and others – you gotta know the day that YOU made a decision, etc. The simplicity of Law and Gospel is offensive to them. Add to that the entertainment culture that we live in and how it differs from traditional worship and you are constantly looking for some internal proof or feeling that what you are doing shows that you are “saved”, rather than looking to what Christ did FOR us.
Brett, I occasionally stumble on websites about the LCMS such as this one. So the issue appears greater than controversy over the kinds of hymns sung (contemporary versus traditional). Fellowship is the greatest weakness of confessional Lutheran churches. Perhaps this move to become more contemporary is a way to encourage fellowship. HOW else can this be done?
I often wonder whether people that attend non-denominational mega churches actually remain long term members – or are they “church shoppers” just passing through. I have once visited a very large mega church. That church seemed so eager to get people in the door that there was next to no effort to take care of the members that have been there a while.
Are many ELCA people leaving for the LCMS?
Bill, I don’t think anyone really knows. I’ve heard of a church or two switching over, and I left the ELCA for the LCMS but with CORE now forming its own denomination I don’t know how many will head to the LCMS. The differences over things like the inerrancy of Scripture and women’s ordination may keep many in CORE’s offshoot church body.
But wasn’t the issue of scriptural inerrancy the cause for so many problems within the ELCA. Do many ELCA church members realize that CORE and LCMC are, theologically speaking, the ELCA minus gay clergy. If they knew, then would many hopeful ELCA churchgoers still be eager to join CORE or LCMC?