Concordia Lutheran Church

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Concordia Lutheran Church, or, in Swedish, Lutherska Konkordiekyrkan, is a small Lutheran denomination in Sweden. It currently consists of one congregation, with about 25-30 members spread around Sweden.

[edit] History

The church traces its roots back to the 1970s, when an independent Lutheran congregation was formed by some pastors and laypeople that had left the Church of Sweden in protest against its doctrinal liberalism. The denomination was formally incorporated in 1984.

[edit] Doctrine

CLC is a confessional Lutheran church. The church believes that the bible as the inerrant word of God, the only guide for Christian doctrine, and that the Lutheran confessions are a correct interpretation of the Bible. Its stances on justification and salvation are in line with the orthodox Lutheran teaching of grace alone and faith alone. The church firmly stresses the real presence in the Lord's Supper.

[edit] Differences between CLC and the Lutheran Confessional Church in Sweden

CLC differs on some doctrinal points from the Lutheran Confessional Church, which is the largest of the independent confessional Lutheran churches in Sweden. The LCC is in doctrinal agreement with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).

[edit] The Lord's Supper

The CLC believes that the words of consecration, spoken by the pastor, immediately assure us of the real presence. LCC/WELS believes that we can only be sure of the real presence at the reception. CLC believes that all bread and wine that are consecrated is to be consumed. LCC/WELS don't believe this.

[edit] The Ministry

The CLC believes that the office of the pastor is a single, special, God-ordained office of the church. This should not be mixed up with other offices, such as those of teachers. LCC/WELS believes that there is no clear difference between that pastoral office and other offices; the pastoral office is more like a function that could be carried out in different ways.

[edit] Church Fellowship

The CLC believes that an orthodox church is never allowed to stay in fellowship with an openly false-teaching church. The LCC/WELS believes that an orthodox church may sometimes remain in fellowship with an erring church-body if there is a hope that the erring church body might return to orthodox teaching. This the CLC believe was the case when WELS did not immediately break fellowship with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, when that church clearly had subscribed to teaching that was contrary to the WELS teaching.