Contact: Mark Chavez, 717-898-0801
GROVE CITY, Ohio, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- A new Lutheran denominational body was born on Friday, Aug. 27, as Lutherans from throughout North America voted overwhelmingly and enthusiastically to form the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).
The decision to form the new church body was made at the annual Convocation of Lutheran CORE which attracted more than 1,100 Lutherans Thursday and Friday at Grove City Church of the Nazarene.
The Convocation adopted a constitution and elected provisional leaders for the NALC. The Rev. Paull Spring of State College, Pa., was elected as bishop. Spring served as bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for 14 years.
Spring and other church leaders were elected for one-year terms. Those congregations that join the NALC will elect their own leaders at the church body's first annual meeting next year.
"The North American Lutheran Church is now launched on its mission: to proclaim the good news of Christ to all people. We pray that God will be by our side and with our congregations as we move forward in His name," Spring said.
"The NALC will embody the center of Lutheranism in America. The NALC will uphold confessional principles dear to Lutherans including a commitment to the authority of the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. Members and congregations of the NALC will have direct involvement in the decisions and life of the NALC," said the Rev. Mark Chavez of Landisville, Pa., director of Lutheran CORE.
Lutherans around the world celebrated the creation of the NALC. Representatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus told the Convocation of the support of their church bodies for the NALC. These two churches are the second and third largest Lutheran churches in the world, each with 5.3 million members. They reported that Lutherans throughout Africa were praying for the Convocation and for the NALC.
"May God bless Lutheran CORE and the vision of the NALC," said the Rev. Francis Stephanos, president emeritus of the church in Ethiopia and a former vice president of the Lutheran World Federation. "One cannot put the word of Scripture to a vote. . . . The churches of the South will choose Scripture over the mighty dollar."
The Rev. Dr. Benson Bagonza, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania's Karagwe Diocese, preached for the closing worship service and participated in the installation of Bishop Spring.
In addition to creating the NALC, Lutheran CORE's 2010 Convocation approved proposals to provide a way for Lutherans who uphold Biblical teaching to move forward together. Lutheran CORE will continue as unity movement for Lutherans regardless of their church body affiliation.
"The NALC and Lutheran CORE will link us together as confessional, faithful Lutherans," said the Rev. Paul Ulring of Columbus, Ohio, who was elected as moderator of Lutheran CORE. "We believe that God is at work, so these are wonderful times ahead."
"Lutheran CORE's actions at this convocation and the launching of the NALC are significant progress in forming a community of confessing Lutherans that crosses denomination lines and national boundaries," Chavez said.
"Our Lord's reconfiguring of the Lutheran landscape not only in North America, but worldwide, is breathtaking and exciting. We pray that Lutheran CORE and the NALC will faithfully follow Him and in all things give glory to our Heavenly Father," said Chavez. "It has been wonderful to witness the joy and hopeful excitement of so many Lutherans to move forward and do the main thing — proclaim Jesus Christ and His Gospel to make disciples."
For more information go to www.lutherancore.org or www.thenalc.org.
