I can recall reading Pieper’s, “Christian Dogmatics,” and Walther’s, “Law and Gospel,” longing for the Gospel that they presented, yet warring with it in my mind. Furthermore, the theology that I encountered also attacked my old nature and worldview. Frankly, I was unprepared for seminary and found myself crushed by the academic weight of the classes. My intention for seminary was to jump through the necessary hoops in order to secure a full-time job in youth ministries. Charles Finney (PD-US)Īfter college I applied to Lutheran Brethren Seminary in Fergus Falls, MN. Needless to say, I spent a lot of my time in legalism as well as constantly taking my spiritual temperature to see if I loved Jesus enough. Through my childhood Christian education and youth group, as well as my college years of working at an Evangelical Christian Bookstore, I developed what I’ve come to call “Folk Lutheranism.” My Folk Lutheranism was a mixture of Lutheranism and Fundamentalistic Finneyism, coated with Evangelicalism and saturated with Pietism. I grew up in the Church of the Lutheran Brethren, my Father is a practicing Roman Catholic and my Mother has roots in the American Lutheran Church. These churches were not splitting from another synod or denomination but gathered together with the main purpose of compiling resources to send missionaries overseas.ĭue to the focus on oversea missions, the denomination has about 116 churches in America and Canada, while there are approximately 1,600 congregations in Chad and Cameroon, 16 congregations in Taiwan and 29 in Japan.įor myself, I have often jokingly said that I am a spiritual mutt. This denomination was founded in 1900 as five independent Lutheran congregations met in Wisconsin to form a new synod.

However, for me it has been all that I’ve known since infancy. Church of the Lutheran Brethren? Chances are you haven’t heard of this small denomination.

Confessions part 1 2