It’s amazing how far things will travel without you even knowing it. I was searching Technorati today to find new blogs and decided to type in “Living Word Free” just for fun, and ran into this post. I never imagined our church logo would travel so far, so quickly!
He wonders what a “free Lutheran church” is. It’s actually quite a common question, so I’ll think I’ll give you the mini-version and point you to a much more detailed explanation.
The concept of the new testament church is one that is amazing and one that we’ve shied away from but are wisely coming back to today. The concept was a group of believers, sharing what they had in common for the common goal of spreading the name of Jesus. Each group was focused on accomplishing this goal, and the teaching of the Scriptures and the apostles was their sole authority. The flow chat of authority looks something like this:
God and His Word (Jesus) > The teaching of the Apostles > The local group of believers.
Sadly, today, church bodies have become large organizations that take authority and twist it. Often times the flow chart of authority now looks like this:
The Church body > God and His Word > The Local Church.
Or, even worse: The Church body > The Local Church > God and His Word.
Sometimes God and His Word are left out completely, which is the absolute worst situation.
The Free Lutheran church believes first of all in the authority of God’s Word above all else, then in the authority of the local congregation. The “Association of Free Lutheran Congregations” is the church body’s entity but not its authority. Each congregation has authority to make individual decisions, based on God’s Word, for their ministries. In this way, the assocation can’t force man-made mandates on congregations, and congregations can’t force man-made mandates on the rest of the association.
One statement from the AFLC web site is this:
Free congregations have no right to demand that other congregations shall submit to their opinion, will, judgment, or decision; therefore, domination by a majority of congregations over a minority is to be rejected.
So, free congregations are free to make their own decisions, always based on Scripture, and are not held to a higher authority of man-made standards. As long as each congregation holds Scripture as the highest authority, this system works very, very well, and I’m very glad to be a part of it. For a much more detailed description, visit Principles of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations.
Okay, now I will be offline for the next week as we go to the Hills, but I just had to respond to the post I found!
