Church of the Lutheran Confession

The Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) is a

Church of the Lutheran
conservative Christian religious body theologically adhering to
confessional Lutheran doctrine. Founded in 1960 in Minnesota, Confession
it has approximately 85 congregations in 24 U.S. states, and
missions in Canada, India, Africa, Nepal, and Myanmar.

The CLC maintains its headquarters at its ministerial college;

Immanuel Lutheran High School, College & Seminary in Eau
Claire, Wisconsin.

Historical background
Various Lutheran congregations left their synods during the Synod Logo
1950s and were independent at first. They began meeting Classification Lutheran
together in 1957.[7] The Church of the Lutheran Confession Orientation Confessional
(CLC) was formed around the time of the break-up of the Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America
in 1963. Theology Old Lutheran[1]
repristination of
The CLC was created primarily (though not solely) from Lutheran Orthodoxy
congregations that broke away from the Wisconsin Evangelical
Polity Congregational
Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod
(ELS) because of a doctrinal difference in the matter of church Associations Eglise Lutherienne
fellowship. The CLC maintained that the WELS and ELS did de Confession du
not follow scriptural principles (Romans 16:17-18) when they Congo · Crown of
did not break with the Synodical Conference and the Lutheran Glory Lutheran
Church–Missouri Synod after they had publicly recognized Church (in Ghana) ·
doctrinal error within those bodies . The Church of the
Lutheran Confession
While there were joint talks in the 1990s between the CLC and
the WELS and ELS to resolve the dispute, no resolution was of India · The Berea
reached. More recently, the CLC has been in formal Evangelical Lutheran
discussions with the WELS and ELS over doctrinal issues. The Church (in India) ·
goal of these discussions has been to establish doctrinal The Church of the
unity.[8][9][10] In 2015, the "Joint Statement Regarding the Lutheran Confession
Termination of Fellowship" was drafted by those involved in of Kenya Etago ·
the discussions. However, the 2017 CLC General Pastoral Church of the
Conference recommended that the 2018 CLC Convention not Lutheran Confession
of Myanmar ·
Himalayan Church of
the Lutheran
Confession (in
Nepal) · The Nigerian
Church of the
Lutheran
adopt the "Joint Statement" as a resolution of the doctrinal Confession · The
difference in this matter, since it is unclear and contains some Church of the
ambiguities.[11] Lutheran Confession
of East Africa · Eglise
Beliefs and practice Evangelique
Lutherienne de
Confession du
Core beliefs Togo[2]
Region 24 States within the
The CLC teaches that the Bible is the only authoritative source
United States and
for doctrine. It subscribes to the Lutheran Confessions (the
various missions
Book of Concord, 1580) as an accurate presentation of what
Scripture teaches. It is strongly linked to the concept of sola Founder Paul Albrecht, former
scriptura—scripture alone, and its website states, "If it is not District President of
Scripture; it is not Lutheran." the Dakota-Montana
district of the WELS

Ecumenical relations Origin 1960

Sleepy Eye,
Fellowship between the CLC and other church groups is Minnesota.[3]
established only upon investigation and confirmation that both Separated from mainly the Wisconsin
church groups hold complete unity in scriptural doctrine and
Evangelical Lutheran
practice.
Synod
The CLC is currently in fellowship with several worldwide Separations The Lutheran Church
synods, some founded through mission work by the CLC. of East Africa (in
Tanzania)[2] ·
Publishing and publications Lutheran Conference
of Confessional
The CLC Bookhouse is the official publishing house for the Fellowship[4]
CLC. It is devoted to publishing Christian literature and CLC Congregations 85
related religious materials, as well as several CLC periodicals.
The CLC Bookhouse also offers books and items from other Members 8,631 baptized[5]
publishing houses. Foreign mission
churches total about
CLC periodicals include: 50,000 baptized[6]

The Lutheran Spokesman — the CLC's monthly family magazine

Ministry by Mail — printed and online sermons for CLC members at a distance from their
church
The Journal of Theology — a quarterly theological magazine
The Witness — an e-newsletter

CLC educational materials include:

God's Hand in our Lives — the CLC Sunday School Series

 Learn From Me — an adult instruction manual

Presidents
Paul Albrecht 1961–1972
Robert Reim 1972–1974
Egbert Albrecht 1974–1982
Daniel Fleischer 1982–2002
John Schierenbeck 2002–2012
Michael Eichstadt 2012–2023
Michael Wilke 2023–present

References
1. Nelson, E. Clifford. The Lutherans in North America (https://books.google.com/books?id=q3x
yPFA_8O0C&pg=PA509). Revised ed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1980. p. 509
2. Lutheran Missions Contact List (http://lutheranmissions.org/contact/)
3. Tiefel, Mark. Why Another School?: The Doctrinal History and Reasons for the Formation of
Immanuel Lutheran High School, College, and Seminary (http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstre
am/handle/1793/31790/Tiefel.pdf?sequence=2). December 10, 2008. p.33, Appendix B:
Timeline of Events.
4. "A Brief Study of the Lutheran Churches in America" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101121
161735/http://clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/Lutheranchurches.pdf) (PDF). Archived from
the original (http://clclutheran.org/atlanta/bibleclass/Lutheranchurches.pdf) (PDF) on 2010-
11-21. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
5. LWF Statistics 2009 (http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2009.pd
f) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20110604203414/http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF
_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2009.pdf) June 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
6. St. Louis Today article: The sermon's in the mail (http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/article
s/2010/05/04/west/special_feature/0505wc-faith0.txt) Archived (https://archive.today/201207
16235348/http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2010/05/04/west/special_feature/050
5wc-faith0.txt) 2012-07-16 at archive.today
7. Tiefel, Mark. Why Another School?: The Doctrinal History and Reasons for the Formation of
Immanuel Lutheran High School, College, and Seminary (http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstre
am/handle/1793/31790/Tiefel.pdf?sequence=2). December 10, 2008. p.26
8. "Progress in doctrinal discussions" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170510112150/https://we
ls.net/progress-in-doctrinal-discussions/). Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
September 1, 2015. Archived from the original (https://wels.net/progress-in-doctrinal-discussi
ons/) on May 10, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
9. "Doctrinal discussions continue between the CLC, the ELS, and WELS" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20161223175647/https://wels.net/doctrinal-discussions-continue-between-the-clc
-the-els-and-wels/). Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. December 15, 2015. Archived
from the original (https://wels.net/doctrinal-discussions-continue-between-the-clc-the-els-and
-wels/) on December 23, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
10. "Summary of the September meeting of the COP" (https://web.archive.org/web/2016122318
2218/https://wels.net/summary-of-the-september-meeting-of-the-cop/). Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Synod. October 4, 2016. Archived from the original (https://wels.net/su
mmary-of-the-september-meeting-of-the-cop/) on December 23, 2016. Retrieved
December 12, 2017.
11. "Panorama - 2017 Church of the Lutheran Confession General Pastoral Conference
Recommendation to the 2018 Church of the Lutheran Confession Convention" (http://clcluth
eran.org/library/jtheo_arch/jt-2017-vol-057-num-02.pdf#page=36) (PDF). Church of the
Lutheran Confession's Journal of Theology. 57 (2): 36–38. Summer 2017. Retrieved
December 12, 2017.

External links
The Church of the Lutheran Confession website (http://www.clclutheran.org)

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