# Church of the Lutheran Brethren



## MRC (Mar 11, 2010)

I am newly reformed (~year). Having read _Christless Christianity_ it has become clear to me that I need to find a church that engages in biblical Word & sacrament ministry. The only one near our home is a Church of the Lutheran Brethren of Canada church. Otherwise, there is a PCA church 30 mins away. Can anyone give me info on this Lutheran denomination? Rod on the Whitehorse in I know is Lutheran and he seems to be "inline" with Reformed Christianity, can anyone tell me how similar his denomination and this one is?


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## ericfromcowtown (Mar 11, 2010)

Hi Mike,

I'm a member of the PCA congregation just to the north of you. We have at least one family making the commute from Okotoks, and several families who travel longer than 30 minutes from the north of the city.

If you have any questions, send me a private message.

There are also several other reformed deonominations in the city: reformed baptist, urc, frc, fpc, canrc. It's an alphabet soup of choices.


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## yeutter (Mar 11, 2010)

The Church of the Lutheran Brethren is a conservative, orthodox, pietist body.


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## toddpedlar (Mar 11, 2010)

I would be ecstatic if a PCA congregation were but 30 minutes away...and there is no question which one I'd choose if I had the choice you've presented us to help you with. Eric's remarks are also helpful - perhaps one of the other - URC, FRCNA, etc has a location somewhat closer to you yet. As orthodox and conservative as the Lutheran Brethren church might be, you'd be much better off with the continental or scottish reformed options.


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## MRC (Mar 12, 2010)

yeutter said:


> The Church of the Lutheran Brethren is a conservative, orthodox, pietist body.


 
In their confessions (Augsberg) they say:

"Of Baptism they teach that it is necessary to salvation, and that through Baptism is offered the grace of God, and that children are to be baptized who, being offered to God through Baptism are received into God's grace.

They condemn the Anabaptists, who reject the baptism of children, and say that children are saved without Baptism."

Is this adding a work (baptism) to the gospel, or am I missreading?

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toddpedlar said:


> I would be ecstatic if a PCA congregation were but 30 minutes away...and there is no question which one I'd choose if I had the choice you've presented us to help you with.



I do agree that the PCA option is ideal. However, my wife is not confessionally reformed as she grew up mainline evangelical and has not studied or been challenged to study such things. Therefore, she does not at all understand why I would want to drive 30mins to church where a good church we currently have community at is a few blocks away. She has found a lack of community in our past a very real source of depression and is very concerned that church 30mins away would remove a level of practical community she feels she needs. The Lord will change her heart, not me, so I am beginning to teach her about reformed theology, from a shepherding perspective. I pray the Lord will teach her and work on her heart about the purpose of the church and that in the future she might become confessionally reformed. 

So, pastorally what might be best for my family is the Lutheran church 3 mins from our house where we can maintain our current community and I can begin to teach my whole family about Word and sacrament ministry. I am just learning here, brother, I do not have a family history of presbyterianism to draw on from.


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## ericfromcowtown (Mar 12, 2010)

I'll make what's perhaps an overly-broad statement and that is that women tend to be more relationally based where men tend to be more intellectually based. My wife was also raised in a broadly evangelical church (pentacostal on the mild side) and found much in the PCA foreign at first. It was the relationships she formed that at first convinced her that our move to the PCA was a good one. Appreciating the biblically based nature of reformed theology came later.

My suggestion would be to try the Lutheran church a couple times and make the drive out to the PCA church a couple of times. Making the drive out "just to check it out" might be an easier sell than an immediate commitment to a 30 minute drive every Sunday. In the end, who knows, God might be leading you to that Lutheran church, despite what many here would consider minor (in the bigger picture) deficiencies in some of their teachings.


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## MRC (Mar 12, 2010)

ericfromcowtown said:


> I'll make what's perhaps an overly-broad statement and that is that women tend to be more relationally based where men tend to be more intellectually based. My wife was also raised in a broadly evangelical church (pentacostal on the mild side) and found much in the PCA foreign at first. It was the relationships she formed that at first convinced her that our move to the PCA was a good one. Appreciating the biblically based nature of reformed theology came later.
> 
> My suggestion would be to try the Lutheran church a couple times and make the drive out to the PCA church a couple of times. Making the drive out "just to check it out" might be an easier sell than an immediate commitment to a 30 minute drive every Sunday. In the end, who knows, God might be leading you to that Lutheran church, despite what many here would consider minor (in the bigger picture) deficiencies in some of their teachings.


 
Thanks, Eric. My thoughts exactly.


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## dudley (Mar 12, 2010)

toddpedlar said:


> As orthodox and conservative as the Lutheran Brethren church might be, you'd be much better off with the continental or scottish reformed options.



I agree completely with Todd. I would drive the 30 mins to be part of a truly Reformed Protestant congregation.

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I also would advise you to consider your position as a Protestant on the 2 sacraments , Baptism and The Lords Supper. I explored all the mainline Protestant churches after leaving roman catholicism in 2006. I found regarding the Lords Supper all the Lutheran congregations were too similar to the roman catholic teaching of transubstantiation, which I reject. I do not believe that the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ. Lutherans say consubstantiation, Christ becomes present in the bread and wine. If you believe as I do and as a Reformed Protestant that the bread and wine are symbols and a memorial of Christs sacrifice, and remain bread and wine and that He becomes present spiritually to us in the Supper, I would go to the Reformed congregation. They believe to my knowledge in the Lutheran confessions as a summary of Bible doctrines. They adhere to the following historical confessional writings: the Apostolic Creed, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism.


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## MRC (Mar 13, 2010)

> They believe to my knowledge in the Lutheran confessions as a summary of Bible doctrines. They adhere to the following historical confessional writings: the Apostolic Creed, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, Augsburg Confession and Luther's Small Catechism



Yes, this is the other major issue for me regarding Lutheranism.


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