What is the Apostolic Lutheran Church all about?

[Izdaari]

I'm looking for a Lutheran church, and there are three near where I live. Two are ELCA and one is Apostolic Lutheran Church of America. It's a smaller church, has no website, and the sign conveys no useful information. But still, I'm curious. I'm not looking for a very conservative chruch, but a moderate one. Still, my local ELCA churches may be too liberal for me. Maybe this obscure ALC church is an option?

I can find this much information on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_Lutheran_Church_of_America

http://www.apostolic-lutheran.org/

But none of that really tells me very much, other than that their doctrine looks pretty standand Lutheran to me... but being new to Lutheranism, I could be missing a lot. Does anybody have any experience with or knowledge of this Lutheran branch?

If none of my neighborhood churches works out for me, I can travel further if I must.

[TheCosmicGospel]

Curious as to who they were I checked out a few churches of theirs online.

It appears that the Wikpedia information might be misleading. I do not see them saying anything about apostolic sucession. And if you download a few video sermons you see not one collar or alb but only suit and tie. So for Lutherans, this is very "low church" and not representative of a body holding to A. S.

They have a clear statement about their doctrines and seem very conservative Lutheran. "Apostolic" in their name is probably more in the sense of following the teachings of the Apostles and holding to teachings that conform to the traditional creeds of the church.

May just be your cup of tea.

Cheers,
Cosmic

[DaRev]

From the LCMS:

The Apostolic Lutheran Church in America (ALCA) is a very small (around 50 congregations) church body whose roots are in the "pietistic" branch of Lutheranism (emphasis on the sanctified life, work of the Holy Spirit, Christian "perfectionism," and a de-emphasis on the sacraments and the office of the ministry).


They originated in Finland and northern Norway and were somehow associated with the Laestadians.
Not a whole lot else is known.

[filosofer]

There is a small Apostolic Finnish Lutheran Church near where I grew up. An area LCMS pastor who had his own congregation also served it for several years.

In Christ's love,
filo

[Izdaari]

Thanks guys, that's helpful. :)

So they're pretty much normal conservative Lutherans with a few quirks? Pietism doesn't appeal to me all that much, so... I guess I'll leave them on my list to check out in person as I go church shopping, but they'll be pretty far down it.

[DaRev]

That's guys, that's helpful. So they're pretty much normal conservative Lutherans as far as anybody can tell? That's good; I'll leave them on my list to check out in person as I go church shopping. :)

Normal conservative? I don't know if I'd go that far. They are probably more ultra-conservative, ultra-pietist. They doin't have the same view of the Sacraments as the LCMS, thus I wouldn't call them "normal."

[Izdaari]

Hmm, not my thing then for sure. More conservative than LCMS is definitely too conservative for me.

[C.F.W. Walther]

Normal conservative? I don't know if I'd go that far. They are probably more ultra-conservative, ultra-pietist. They doin't have the same view of the Sacraments as the LCMS, thus I wouldn't call them "normal."
So you consider untra-conservatives as ultra-pietists are is that just this particular denom you're talking about?

[DaRev]

So you consider untra-conservatives as ultra-pietists are is that just this particular denom you're talking about?

Did you read the quote I posted from the LCMS CIC?

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

How is their view of the sacraments different?

[TheCosmicGospel]

From their Principles of the Doctrines:

"The observance of the Lord's Supper is a command of the Lord....This do in remembrance of Me."

Bingo!

[elizabethevangeline]

There is a large minority of Apostolic Lutherans in my community. They are not connected to the mainstream Lutherans in any way. They are a very closed community, almost like the Amish.

When I was a youth I was unaware that I was an "outsider", but many AL's of my children's generation are outright mean. Earlier this year my 6th grader came home from school talking about the "blondes only" football game before school started. Once the teachers found out, the kids changed it to the "Apostolic Lutheran only" game. A friend with African American children tells me they've experienced blatant racism.

www.extoots.blogspot.com (http://www.extoots.blogspot.com) has a series of helpful articles listed under "explore Laestadianism".

This site is by a former AL, is rather critical but discusses OACL beliefs: http://www.oldapostoliclutheran.com/default.asp

The website you sited about the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America doesn't list all the AL churches in my area-we have both "Old" and "New" (I would assume "new" is the AL of America). The "New" is less legalistic...but it still is going to be a congregation based on family connections and generally closed to outsiders.