Welcome to the website of the
Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church.
We are glad you are here!
Two thousand
years ago, when Christ trained the twelve apostles and
breathed his Holy Spirit on the congregation at Antioch he
gave birth to one church, one way to live. So why are there
over 22,000 Christian denominations today? Yes, there are
over 22,000 reinterpretations of the same teaching. We,
members of the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (ALCC),
believe that this was not the intention of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just as Christians are one in spirit, we at the
ALCC believe we should be one in body. The ALCC is an
ecumenical, traditional, liturgical, episcopal denomination
that bases its beliefs in Holy Scripture and the teaching
of Christ and the apostles.
What does it
mean to be ecumenical?
We believe in
the unity of all Christian believers. God's kingdom on
earth is one kingdom, ruled by Jesus Christ. "Any kingdom
divided against itself will be ruined," Luke 11:17.
Currently, the kingdom is fractured and splintered into
many small groups. The challenge of the Anglo-Lutheran
Catholic Church is to reunite the splinters, yet to reunite
them according to the traditional interpretations of the
word of God. Over the course of the millennia, differences
have arisen due to language barriers and definitions.
Through open discourse, churches of varied liturgical and
historical backgrounds can learn to bend, to respect and to
embrace one another's methods of
worship.
The ALCC is
unique among churches in that it accepts as confessional
documents all of the following: the unaltered "Augsburg
Confession", the "Apology
of the Augsburg Confession",
the
" Thirty-nine Articles of Religion" from the "Book of
Common Prayer" of the Anglican Church, (as interpreted
by John Henry
Cardinal Newman in
"Tracts for the
Times" insofar as
they do not conflict with authentic Catholic faith and
tradition) the Roman Catholic-Lutheran "Joint Declaration
on the Doctrine of Justification" (Augsburg, Germany,
1999); the Catechism of the
Catholic Church, and the
documents and decrees of all Ecumenical Councils recognized
by the Roman Catholic Church, and the Magisterium of the
Catholic Church.
What does it
mean to be traditional?
We believe in
the sanctity and purity of Holy Scripture. We believe that
it is the inspired word of God. We do not believe in modern
reinterpretations of Scripture. We do not follow those who
say that Scripture was written for a "primitive people who
lived long ago." We believe that Scripture was written for
all people throughout all time and it stands on its own
merit. We furthermore believe that the Holy Spirit works
today as it did two thousand years ago.
What does it
mean to be liturgical?
Two thousand
years ago the apostles, and the early church fathers
following them, agreed upon a set way to worship, revere
and commemorate all that Christ did for them and us. They
created the Divine Liturgy of the Catholic Church. That
Liturgy includes a reading from the Old Testament, a
reading from the New Testament and a reading from the
Gospel, plus a creed or statement of our faith, and the
Rite of Holy Eucharist, or Mass, celebrating the gifts of
the bread and the wine. In 1875 a document was unearthed by
archeologists in Istanbul called the Didache, or "The
Teaching of the 12". It was a 2,000 year old testimony to
the worship methods of the apostles. It was a statement to
our current church fathers that for 2,000 years liturgical
believers have been celebrating and commemorating Christ
the way the apostles prescribed.
What does it
mean to be episcopal?
The word
episcopal derives from the Latin word "episcopus" meaning
"of bishops". In Paul's first letter to Timothy there are
descriptions of the hierarchy of the church including the
elders, or overseers, who head the church, which in Latin
would be the "episcopi". In addition Christ handed the keys
of his kingdom to the apostle Peter in effect making him
the head of all the "episcopi" or
bishops.
There are two
types of bishops, those in apostolic succession and those
who are not. The Anglo-Lutheran Catholic church only
recognizes those bishops in apostolic succession. What does
this mean? Christ appointed the original apostles.
Following Christ, the apostles developed a ceremony by
laying hands on a devoted member eligible to be a bishop.
This ceremony has been handed down from bishop to bishop
for 2,000 years. That is the apostolic
succession.
So this is who
we are. We hope that our devotion to Christ and scripture,
our respect for ancient tradition and our service please
the Lord God. We hope that you find this website of
interest. If you wish to explore further please select one
of the following links. If you wish make contact with a
church near you, select Our Churches and follow the
hierarchical menus.