"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." —Eph. 1:2 The Lutheran church historically has been both Evangelical and Confessing. Evangelical because we believe Christ died to save us from our sins. Confessing because we express this faith through the Apostolic Confessions of the Church—and other similar declarations. We embrace these Confessions, not as new revelations from God, but as true summations of the revelation found in scripture.
In recent years, traditional Christian churches have seen an unprecedented erosion of the commonly held beliefs of the one true Faith in Jesus Christ. Increasingly, lines continue to be drawn between those upholding the historic Confession of Faith, and those who would rewrite this Confession. The ELCF was created to stand against these false teachings, to confess and promote the following principles within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCF includes pastors, lay-people, and congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, all of whom by signature acknowledge their adherence to the Confession of Faith and Purpose articles of our organization. The ELCF is a religious, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, and your contributions are fully tax deductible.
Lutheran CORE is a coalition of pastors, lay people, congregations and reforming groups. We seek to preserve within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America the authority of the Word of God according to the Lutheran confessions. Our intention is to remain within our church and to work with congregations, individuals, and other reform-minded groups for the reform of our own church.
Lutheran CoRe and its partner group, The Lutheran Churches of the Common Confession ascribe to the Common Confession.
The ELCF accepts all the canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments as the true Word of God, and accepts in their entirety the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as they appear in the Book of Concord of 1580. We do this, not out of a sentimental feeling for the past, but because we hold these Confessions to be true. |
Working together with other renewal movements through the Lutheran Coalition for Reform Lutheran CORE--A coalition for reform within the ELCA.
The ELCF is a member organization of the Association for Church Renewal Open Letter To Bishop Hanson Review of New Hymnal ELW | |||||||||
Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum The Word of the Lord Endures Forever | ||||||||||