- 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.
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.
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.
Differences between CLC and the Lutheran Confessional Church in Sweden
CLC differs on some doctrinal points from the Lutheran Confessional Church (LBK), which is the largest of the independent confessional Lutheran churches in Sweden. The LBK is in doctrinal agreement with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
The Lord's Supper
The CLC believes that the words of consecration, spoken by the pastor, immediately assure us of the real presence. The LBK and the WELS believe that one may not declare either the consectrationist or distributionist positions as doctrine because it only finds Scriptural support for the real presence in the sacrament as a whole rather than fixed to any definite instant. CLC believes that all bread and wine that are consecrated are to be consumed. The LBK and the WELS do not require this.
The Ministry
The CLC believes that the office of the pastor is a single, special, God-ordained office of the church to the exclusion of other offices, such as those of teachers. The LBK and the WELS believes that the that pastoral office and other offices are all fall under one ministry of the Gospel.
Church Fellowship
The CLC believes that an orthodox church is never allowed to stay in fellowship with an openly false-teaching church. This the CLC believes 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.
The WELS disagrees with this judgment and agrees that an orthodox church is never allowed to stay in fellowship with an openly false-teaching church.
External links
Categories:- Christianity in Sweden
- Lutheran denominations and unions established in the 20th century
- Lutheranism in Europe
- Religious organizations established in the 1970s
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