The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Lutheran Core is leading the charge to start a new denomination for those congregations that will leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) because it will no longer discriminate against homosexual persons who want to serve as a pastor in the church.

What will the new denomination be named?  Almost all combinations of "Lutheran", "Church," "Evangelical", "America" are either already in use or have been used historically.  One suggestion--Not in My Lutheran Church (NIMLC)--probably won't catch on either.  Obviously, "nimlc" is a knock-off on "nimby"--"not in my backyard."  By now, most of us know what "nimby" means, but "nim-lick" would take some getting used to, and sounds somewhat sexual besides--can't imagine them going for that one.

This is a big decision.  I rue the day when somebody decided that "evangelical" should be in the name of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  With the best of intentions, they thought they could re-claim the word from its American distortions, but we did not have the cultural clout to make it so and should have known this at the start.

Perhaps Lutheran Core could take a page from other denominations.  I'm told that, at one time, there was a denomination called the Church of God.  A break-away group called itself The True Church of God.  A subsequent conflict resulted in another group breaking off from that one which called itself The (Only) True Church of God.

Maybe the new denomination will be called The (Only) True Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  The exclusiveness of it--only! true! church!--would appeal to some, but the moniker, TOTELCA, reads and sounds too much like an oil company.

Many of those affiliating with Lutheran Core are from the "evangelical catholic" wing of the ELCA.  (Think high church with, as a friend of mine puts it, "lots of Bach.")  One of the reasons Lutheran Core gave for starting a denomination is because some of their affiliated members wanted something along the lines of a traditional denomination--not, in other words, a looser, low church confederation-of-sorts like Lutheran Church in Mission for Christ (LCMC).

That being the case, perhaps the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (OHCAELCA) would have some appeal.  "Oh-ca-el-ca," however, sounds like a word from the Navajo language which could lead to some confusion.  These folks aren't into sweat lodges.

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Comments

[John]

Funny you should bring this up… I was also wondering yesterday what the “new” denomination might be called. Their congregations might be able to save the cost of reprinting letterhead if they call themselves the Exclusive Lutheran Church in America – ELCA! Despite the subterfuge of pious rhetoric about defending the authority of Scripture, every honest person knows that this is really about excluding some of those whom the Holy Spirit calls to faith and service in the body of Christ.

[Jody]

Maybe they'll just go with the American Lutheran Church again.

[John Petty]

John, good comment!

Jody, that also would be a possibility, but some of the "evangelical catholic" people back east probably wouldn't go for it.

[Rev Dr Mom]

Or perhaps they can join forces with the disaffected Anglicans and throw some more initials into that stew of ACNA, CANA, AMiA, and so forth. The One Holy Catholic Apostolic and Orthodox Anglican Lutheran Evangelical Church in America--TOHCAOALEA does that cover all the bases?

[John Petty]

Some of them would probably like that.

Thanks for your visit, Rev. Doc.