The latest email from the ACELC Properly speaking ecclesiastical (churchly) supervision happens primarily within the context of a Christian congregation. In this fundamental unit of the Church, it is the primary responsibility of the divinely called pastor to be the ecclesiastical supervisor within the congregation. It is the pastor’s first responsibility to supervise himself – his doctrine and life. As a called servant of the Word, the pastor is obligated by his sacred ordination/installation vows to preach or teach nothing that is not in accord with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, and to adorn his life with holy   More…

Last week I had the great joy of attending the 3rd Annual Free Conference of the ACELC.  The theme this year was on worship, and in the group’s earnest desire to restore unity and concord within Lutheranism they attempted to do something great – a grassroots effort to gather all sides to the table to discuss the disputed points of theology under the Scriptures and Lutheran Confessions.  This of course being a grassroots effort means that it is not troubled by bylaws, resolutions, candidacies, longstanding personality feuds, or politics for that matter. What I heard was a number of pastors   More…

Repentance is something the Lord means to be ongoing in the life of the Christian. But, repentance isn’t easy. Who wants to repent? Oh, we repent after eating too much at our Thanksgiving feasts, but that’s just our discomfort speaking. As soon as the pressure on the waist band subsides, we’re right back at it; left-over heaven! Genuine repentance is different from wanting to be rid of discomfort so that we can get back to what put us in the discomfiture in the first place. Repentance is a gift from above. The Lord gives it in His Word, specifically, His   More…

Dear ACELC Interested Parties, Grace to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! If you’ve been following the minutes of the ACELC Board Meetings, then you already know that about 6 weeks ago our Board approved the undertaking of a “Documentary Film Project” that will endeavor to present the work of the ACELC in a way which will make it more available and understandable than we have ever been able to do in the past. This project is a very ambitious undertaking and will require a great deal more resources than we   More…

A publication from the ACELC found here:   I remember a few years back how our nation expressed so much impatience with gridlock in congress. We heard how people just wanted something to get done. We were tired of going nowhere. It made me think of a couple of women in a car at the edge of the Grand Canyon. With the image of Thelma and Louise in my mind, it occurred to me that there are times when a foot on the brake is better than a foot on the gas pedal! At the Southern District Convention last week,   More…

From the ACELC Board of Directors: How do we establish unity within The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod? Thus far the use of synodical resolutions passed at our national conventions hasn’t worked very well. In the  recent past we were even told that the Synod in convention is able to tell us what Holy Scripture really says, and that didn’t work either! Theologians (and I include pastors in that description because that is exactly what we are supposed to be) have attempted over the years to use a couple of different standards in an attempt to establish unity, but to   More…

From the ACELC Board of Directors:   Dear Friends, We just wanted to drop you a short note advising you that all of the 2012 Conference Sermons and the Table Talk sessions from our recently concluding Theological Conference have now been posted on our website. In addition, the final posting of the papers presented at this Conference has also been completed. In addition, we are feverishly working on some short videos for release via YouTube, and when these have been completed we will forward information to you about those as well. If you support the work of the ACELC, Please continue   More…

While I attended the 2nd annual Conference of the ACELC a few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down with Rev. Clint Poppe, the chairman of the board for the ACELC.  I had the chance to ask him some of the common questions/concerns that I hear others have with the group and their actions.  Hopefully this will help inform others about the ACELC. Why did you send out the letter (fraternal admonition letter) when you did? We were working on the letter as pastors and laity throughout the Synod and having discussions about the best way to communicate   More…

This blog post from the ACELC by Pastor Sawyer was brought to our attention; we post it here for those readers who don’t follow the ACELC blog.   Honestly, I have NO good reason why Boy George and the Culture Club’s song Karma Chameleon should have come to mind when heading this blog entry. I am just WEIRD that way. I admit it. And since I am, we might as well all settle in and make the most of it, ’cause this one’s longer than just a three hour cruise! There’s been a good bit of discussion regarding the COST   More…

I had the privilege to attend the second annual ACELC Conference this past week in Lincoln, NE at Good Shepherd Lutheran. The list of presenters was a very good one for this conference.  It included a District President, a couple seminary professors and other notable theologians of our Synod.  The papers for the conference were excellently presented.  Please consider the papers below, especially the one by Rev. James Gier on “exceptions” in pastoral care involving the Lord’s Supper (not listed yet, but hopefully coming soon). The papers for the conference are located here. Now, here are some of my thoughts   More…

Here’s a note from ACELC — the release of a bulletin insert to help explain the work of the ACELC, as well as a reminder about their conference on Feb 7th through 9th (found on the Lutheran Calendar from BJS here).     Dear Friends, We recently released a Bulletin Insert that you might find helpful in your congregation to explain the work of the ACELC. If you are a pastor and are trying to promote our work (or stimulate positive conversation about our work), please download this insert and see if it’s something you might be able to use. If you   More…

Here’s a note from ACELC — the Lutheran Catechetical Society has other videos as well, including the BJS conference this past February, and a 1995 presentation by President Harrison about Liturgy and the Youth. Dear Friends, Just a quick note to let you know that the ACELC Free Conference videos are now available for purchase. The three DVD set includes 10 presentations as well as the panel discussions and PDF files of the papers that were presented. These videos were professionally produced by the Lutheran Catechetical Society and are really top notch. The cost for the whole package, including shipping, is   More…

The ACELC has posted all the papers from their recent conference here. We have reproduced the Rev. Rick Sawyer’s paper (#4 below) and welcome your comments. Please keep your comments on topic to this one paper. All papers can be reached at the following links: Introduction to the Conference – Rev. Jim Gier Ecclesiastical Supervision – Rev. Dick Bolland Communion, Unionism & Syncretism – Rev. Brent Kuhlman Divine Service & Liturgical Offices – Rev. Rick Sawyer Service of Women in the Church – Rev. Robert Wentzel Office of the Holy Ministry – Rev. John Wolrabe Unbiblical Removal of Pastors – Rev. Scott   More…

The ACELC has posted all the papers from their recent conference here. We have reproduced the Rev. Brent Kuhlman’s paper (#3 below) and welcome your comments. Please keep your comment on topic to this one paper. All papers can be reached at the following links: Introduction to the Conference – Rev. Jim Gier Ecclesiastical Supervision – Rev. Dick Bolland Communion, Unionism & Syncretism – Rev. Brent Kuhlman Divine Service & Liturgical Offices – Rev. Rick Sawyer Service of Women in the Church – Rev. Robert Wentzel Office of the Holy Ministry – Rev. John Wolrabe Unbiblical Removal of Pastors – Rev. Scott   More…

On March 1-3, 2011, the Association of Confessing Evangelical Lutheran Congregations met at Trinity Lutheran Church, Kearney, Missouri, for its Convening Conference. The 130 pastors and laymen in attendance heard an array of excellent speakers discussing the issues and errors which have sadly divided our church body, The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Rev. Dr. John Wohlrabe, Concordia, Geneseo, IL (Second Vice President of the Synod), traced the problem of unresolved error in the Synod to issues occurring following the First World War. Rev. Richard Bolland, Holy Cross, Kansas City, took the conference attendees through the history of our Synod’s   More…