Church members opposed to a 1988 merger of the American Lutheran Church (ALC) with two other Lutheran bodies are proposing the formation of an alternative denomination called the Association of American Lutheran Churches. Meanwhile, if two-thirds of the ALC congregations approve, it will merge with the Lutheran Church in America and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
ALC members who oppose the merger are concerned about provisions in the documents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America regarding the authority of the Bible, congregational authority, and commitment to evangelisn and missions. A letter sent to some 5,000 ALC clergy said the Association of American Lutheran Churches would be “an option” for congregations and pastors who do not want to be part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The letter said 16 ALC pastors and 10 lay persons from seven states who met in August “expressed the desire for this kind of alternative for themselves and their congregations.” The letter invited interested pastors and lay leaders to attend an assembly planned for later this month in St. Paul, Minnesota, to give their input.
“In light of the unwillingness of the Commission for a New Lutheran Church and the national conventions to take seriously the request of biblical and evangelical Lutherans, the need for this option is very critical,” the letter stated. “It was the unanimous desire of the group [that met in August] that we should go forward to form this Association of American Lutheran Churches and utilize the ALC constitution as a basis for structuring.” The letter was signed by James Minor, a St. Paul clergyman, and Duane Lindberg, a pastor from Waterloo, Iowa.
The letter stated that the assembly scheduled for later this month “is for all who … want a church which will maintain our ALC position regarding the authority of the Bible, for all who want a church which will maintain our ALC position regarding congregational authority, for all who are tired of debating secular, political issues at church conventions and want a church which places its resource commitment on evangelism and home and world missions.” Participants at the meeting will hear reports from groups working on a constitution and other matters for the proposed Association of American Lutheran Churches.
“For many of us who have spent a considerable amount of effort in prayer and work to help bring a conservative influence into the formation of the new Lutheran church,” Minor and Lindberg wrote, “our hearts are heavy with disappointment that there has been and remains no willingness to take seriously the concerns of biblical and evangelical Lutheranism.”
In interviews, Minor and Lindberg said the fundamental issue for pastors and churches considering the alternative denomination is whether the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Those words are used to describe the Bible in the ALC constitution, but they are not contained in the founding documents approved for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
“We believe that the Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation, that the words are the inspired word of God,” Minor told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch. “We would say the Bible is without error, solidly true. We can rely on it.”
ALC Presiding Bishop David Preus told the St. Paul newspaper that plans for the Association of American Lutheran Churches came as a disappointment. “But I have known that these things have plagued every merger along the way,” he said. “… I expect it to affect only a handful of congregations.”
By Willmar Thorkelson.
