Confessional Lutheranism
I had the opportunity lately to witness in a small congregation of the Ev. Luth. Ch. in Canada(St. Michael Ev. Luth. Ch., Mystery Lake), although the congregation has had no connections with the ELCIC for over four years. My friend Pastor Gutsche, Barrhead, Alberta, had asked if I could say something when I came to visit him. He serves about 40 people. While we are not in fellowship with the ELCIC, I said I would explain briefly our confessional Lutheran stance. Since we weren’t in fellowship I did not sing the hymns or join in prayers or the liturgy. And when the time came to speak I did not mount the pulpit, but spoke from the chancel. I explained:
•We as a Lutheran synod(CLC) hold to the Book of Concord of 1580 as a true and accurate exposition of Scripture such as even that the papacy is the antichrist. But of course the Book of Concord does not cover all of Scripture teaching. To be true Lutherans according to our forefathers we also,
•Believe all of Scripture as Paul said in defending himself before Gov. Felix, Acts 24:14, which means that if God says the sun and moon stood still in the Valley of Aijalon on that day of a great victory for God’s people, then they did, and so on. We
•Teach all of the Scripture as Paul said to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:27, for the Scripture is a stream a child can wade in and a river an elephant can swim in. And in India it is appreciated that we as Lutherans have a breadth and a depth to our teachings.We
•Agree on all the Scriptures as Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 1:10, and notice all the problems that arose due to disunity.
This is just a brief summary. There were 24 in church and I pray they grasped what I was saying