• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Which Lutheran Church?

SK2005

Saint in training
Okay, this may be a dumb question but I just don't know the answer. If you were on vacation and it was the weekend so you were going to attend a service. "St. Joseph's Lutheran Church" is just around the corner from your hotel, and you want to go. But what if it is the wrong type of Lutheran church? Does it depend on the name or what? I am confused. I hope that you understand my question. I also have noticed it in the Catholic churches, like the Saint Pius X society church near me says Imaculate Conception Catholic Church but it would be the wrong Catholic church for me to go to. Hiope that someone can help.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Nope.... sorry, I don't understand.

Why would a Catholic church be the wrong one? Why would a Lutheran church be the wrong one?

I don't get it..... are you asking about the different Synods of the Lutheran denomination?

Scott
 

Feathers in Hair

World's Tallest Hobbit
While I'm also not sure of what you mean by 'wrong', I'm going to assume you are referring to which Synod the church is a part of. While I try not to judge either as right or wrong, Missouri Synod is the one that (I believe) you have to be a member of before they will let you do such things as take communion there. So... If you're asking which one is more welcoming, I'd say try others, such as the ELCA.
 

SK2005

Saint in training
What I mean by wrong, isn't really "wrong." I mean that if I was Missouri Synod and I was on vacation and accidentally went to a ELCA church. How would you be able to tell the difference before you go to the service? Or would it even be a big deal? By wrong I mean not your branch of the church. I hope that this clears some things up, if not let me know.
 

Feathers in Hair

World's Tallest Hobbit
SK2005 said:
What I mean by wrong, isn't really "wrong." I mean that if I was Missouri Synod and I was on vacation and accidentally went to a ELCA church. How would you be able to tell the difference before you go to the service? Or would it even be a big deal? By wrong I mean not your branch of the church. I hope that this clears some things up, if not let me know.
Ah, I see!

Well, usually the church has their affiliation posted on the sign. (At least, from what I've experienced.) If you wanted to be sure before you went, you could try giving them a call, and there's usually someone who'll be happy to tell you. The difference is really only a big deal if you're emotionally invested in what the official standing the church has on something is and how it affects you. (I don't know how much of a difference it would make if it were an 'attending a one-time service' type of thing.)

I hope this helps!
 

Bendio

New Member
The lutheran church is split into two distinct sections. There are the 'confessional' and 'non-confessional' lutheran churches. The main difference lies in the fact that the confessional lutherans still use luther's confessions. The non-confessionals do not. This often leads to confessionals as being much more accurate in the sense that they are very much more literal in their acceptance of the Bible, making them 'conservative' Christians (I'm a confessional, and part of the LCC Synod in Canada). The non-confessional are alot more lax in their beliefs, for example up here our non-confessional (ELCIC) synod supports gay rights, where as our confessional (LCC) does not, and in fact when some one put in the newspaper that 'The Lutherans support gay rights', the LCC president was up in arms, and quickly made a clear distinction between the two synods.

Now, in order to tell which service you are attending, take a look around you. How contemporary is the service? Is Jesus mentiond frequently in the sermon? Non-confessional churches are well known for using far more contemporary services, and like alot of other protestant churches, they all too often exclude Jesus from the service. The confessional churches consistently include Jesus in the service, and are *supposed* to (not saying that they always do this) mention end-times at least once a month.

So, I hope this helps you!

Bendio, Signing off.
 

SK2005

Saint in training
Thanks for the answer Bendio!
So, unless you call ahead of time, you have to sit through the service before you know. Would one from the confessional be offended if he went to the non-confessional?
 

Bendio

New Member
Probably not. No matter what Luther (or any Christian church, for the most part) you goto it burns down to one thing: "If you accept that Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, died on the cross in the forgiveness of sins, you are forgiven". The only time one from either church might be offended is when the lesson is (as it is all to often) "If you accept that Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, died on the cross in the forgivness of sins and {insert randomn dogmatic statment here} you will be forgiven."

There might be the cases involving sensitive topics such as open communion that can cause problems (open communion is where non-confirmands are permitted to partake in the wine and the bread, without knowing why), which is very looked down upon by the confessional churches. If you want more information, consult a Missouri Synod pastor, or LCC, depending on your chosen country.
 

anders

Well-Known Member
I never, until I found this forum, even knew of different Lutheran flavours. In Sweden, there's the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Sweden (CoS), which to me seems to be light years away from any US Evangelical movement. My ex-wife and I used to attend to CoS services most Sundays. It would have been difficult to find other Protestant varieties, but never the less, we once or twice went to the "Lutheran missonary church" (my translation), which is almost indisinguishable from the CoS. At least once every Christmas, we went to the German congregation in our home town, not just because of the music, but because we felt at least as much at home there, as in the CoS.

One summer, when I was working in Frankfurt (Germany), she went there as well, and on a few occasions we attented a local church. No problem at all; the preaching and the ceremonies made us feel perfectly at home. (It should by now be obvious that we both are fluent in German.) I rather find it strange that when we lived in Coventry (England) for a couple of months, we visited the famous cathedral, but never attended any services.

I have to confess that I, for the wrong reasons, never went to a Catholic church. That was to a significant part due to my misunderstanding of the transubstantiation dogma, which I erroneously thought was worlds away from my beliefs, as stated in the official creed of the CoS. Now I've finally (?) come to the conclusion that transubstantiation and consubstantiation are equally ridiculous.

I have been a guest in a Sikh gurdwara, and wouldn't have had any problems with attending their ceremonies more in depth. I like their equality, but I can't accept the reincarnation thing.

I have visited a mosque, the Delhi Baha'i temple (amazing in every way!) and a Hindu temple, but just as a tourist and/or a student of religions. I avoided an ISKCON temple. I hope that I will be open to influences that will make my life increasingly more acceptable to myself and to other people.
 

Augustine

Member
Well, I think I will weigh in a bit here on this being a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. I will give you a set of guidelines to know that you are getting a good lutheran service (as given to me by my confirmation pastor, and a few of my own).

- The pastor preaches solid law and gospel, reminding the congregation that we are all sinners, but Christ has wiped all of that away with his death on the cross.
- Creeds (there have to be creeds- Apostles or Nicene)- without creeds, what do you believe in?
- The church has to hold that the communion is the true body and blood of Christ, but is under the elements of bread and wine. This is usually found out by the denomination's belief, and I don't think there is a lutheran denomination that does not believe this.
- Confession and Absolution is administered during the service

I hope these characteristics help anyone know what should go on in a proper lutheran service.

On a side note: Closed communion is practiced by the LCMS because most other denominations do not hold the same view of Holy Communion as we do. To drink and eat in a Lutheran Holy Communion signifies that you believe everything the Church believes, teaches, and confesses. Closed communion is also for the partaker's protection as well, for the Bible says that receiving the supper in the wrong way can cause harm to that individual (See 1 Cor. 10: 3-5). However, it is possible to talk to an LCMS pastor before service and ask to see if you can take the supper. They will usually ask what you believe the supper is, and if your answer is accordance with the right definition of the supper; they will let you take Holy Communion.
 

keithnurse

Active Member
I was baptized and confirmed LCMS but am now a UU (Unitarian Universalist). From what I remember, Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Synod and some others are the Lutherans in the US who practice closed communion. The ELCA, the biggest Lutheran body here does not. In the ELCA any baptized christian may receive communion in their churches. In the Missouri Synod, the Wisconsin Synod and ELS the official policy is you have to be a member of their church body or a church body they are in communion with to receive communion in their church. Some Missouri Synod churches are stricter than others in enforcing this rule. Some MS churches will not let you commune without talking to the pastor ahead of time to verify you are LCMS. There are other LCMS churches, especially in the South or on the east coast who don't ask questions, you can just go up and take communion. The Wisconsin Synod is very strict about enforcing their rules on this issue.
 

ronandcarol

Member
Premium Member
Whenever we travel and are away on the w/end, we look forward to going to any Christian church, with a few exceptions. We are going with the sole purpose of worshiping Jesus. That is why we go, not to compare services or critique the service in any way, just to worship our Lord and Savior.

ronandcarol
 
Top