Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
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Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ is an association of Lutheran congregations in the United States which belong to the Lutheran branch of Christianity. LCMC was started by the WordAlone Network as an alternative for local churches who no longer felt that they could remain in the ELCA working on reform. Thirty-one congregations were charter members of the association in 2000. The membership of LCMC is presently (April 2007) 215 congregations, which includes 155 US congregations in 35 US states and 60 congregations in 7 other countries (Belarus, Canada, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.)
According to LCMC's website, they are: "an association of congregations and individuals who are: 1) free in Christ; 2) accountable to one another; 3) rooted in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions (see Book of Concord); and 4) working together to fulfill Christ's Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations.
Some regard LCMC as a conservative organization due to the traditional stance they take on Lutheran polity, Scriptural authority and human sexuality, though the group describes itself as "centrist".
Polity: LCMC is congregational in structure, rejecting the historic episcopate adopted by the ELCA, the denomination which most LCMC members were once a part of.
Scriptural Authority: According to their mission statement[1]:
- We reject the notion that science, personal experience, tradition, or other human endeavors have equal footing with the Bible.
Sexuality: On the subject of sexuality they state in a "Pastoral Admonition":
- We affirm that God created us male and female, and that it is God's will and intention that human sexual expression and fulfillment take place only within the boundaries of marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4–6; and Mark 10:2-9). And, we confess as individuals and as congregations that we have not fulfilled God's will in our decisions, modeling, and teaching."[2]
On one important issue, LCMC stands apart from the "conservative" Lutheran denominations. LCMC recognizes the ordination of women as pastors.
