The North American Lutheran Church
The NALC is a fast-growing Christian church in the Lutheran tradition, uniting more than 141,000 Lutherans in more than 400 congregations across North America. The NALC embodies the theological center of Lutheranism in North America and stands firmly within the global Lutheran mainstream.
We are a church family committed to the authority of the Bible as the inspired Word of God. In keeping with the Lutheran Confessions, we believe all doctrines should and must be judged by the teaching of Scripture.
The NALC has embraced four core values which shape our common life: Christ Centered, Mission Driven, Traditionally Grounded, and Congregationally Focused. We are a church centered on the unique Gospel of Jesus Christ, animated by missions and evangelism, grounded in the 2,000-year tradition of Christian faith, and organized chiefly to serve our congregations.
A renewed Lutheran community moving forward in faith, the NALC is focused on living out Christ’s Great Commission to go and make disciples in North America and around the globe. We invite you to learn more about our church family.
The NALC was constituted on August 27, 2010 in Columbus, Ohio, at a Convocation organized by the church reform movement Lutheran CORE. One year earlier, a similar gathering of Lutheran CORE had directed its leadership to develop new organizational alternatives for faithful Lutheran Christians in North America. In response to numerous requests from congregations for the creation of a new Lutheran church, Lutheran CORE developed A Vision and Plan for the North American Lutheran Church and Lutheran CORE, published in February 2010. Six months later, our new church was formed.
The constituting Convocation was attended by nearly 1,000 members and visitors from across North America. A number of other churches sent leaders to greet the Convocation, including the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ, and the Anglican Church in North America. Bishop Benson Bagonza of the Karagwe Diocese, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, preached at the closing worship and, along with retired Bishop Ken Sauer, installed the Rev. Paull E. Spring as the first Bishop of the NALC.
The NALC has been blessed with extraordinarily rapid growth. At the time of the constituting Convocation in August 2010, seventeen congregations had voted to join the NALC. Six years later, that number had grown to more than 400 congregations. Of those, roughly 70 are mission congregations, reflecting the priority placed on missions and evangelism by the NALC. We give thanks to God for all that has been accomplished, and seek His guidance as we move into the future with excitement.
Immanuel Lutheran Church - 920 Fillmore Street - Whitewood, SD 57793 - 605-269-2104
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