Lutheran Church has various branches

[feeling the need to differentiate from the denom lately...]

REV. PAUL ZABEL
The Record
Kitchener, Ontario

The Record's most recent articles, and especially the headlines in covering the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada's most recent convention held in Waterloo, seem to give the impression that the actions taken at this convention is the stance of all Lutherans. This is not the case.

In addition to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, there are at least three other Lutheran synods in Canada, one of which is Lutheran Church-Canada. Lutheran Church-Canada currently has over 325 congregations in Canada and nearly 78,000 members. In the Kitchener-Waterloo area, there are 11 congregations with a membership of nearly 5,000 people.

Lutheran Church-Canada believes that the whole Bible is actually the Word of God, and, therefore, is totally truthful, reliable, and free from any error and, therefore, believes that the Scriptures are the final standard by which we must judge everything that we believe, teach and confess.

In my opinion, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, on the other hand, holds that Scripture is not necessarily always accurate or trustworthy in all its details and parts. Thus, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada tolerates and encourages methods of interpreting the Scripture that presuppose that the Bible contains error and is unclear about various doctrinal matters.

This difference over the Bible explains some of the other differences between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Lutheran Church-Canada. For example, Lutheran Church-Canada does not ordain women to the pastoral office and is in disagreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada also in the areas of homosexuality and abortion.

Lutheran Church-Canada unequivocally teaches that homosexual behaviour is intrinsically sinful because it is contrary to God's word. Thus, the issue of offering same-sex blessings to gay couples would not be an issue to be voted upon at a Lutheran Church-Canada synod convention.

While there are other examples, the ordination of women pastors, homosexuality and abortion serve to make the point that the difference over the authority and reliability of God's word lies at the heart of the other differences between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Lutheran Church-Canada.

Rev. Paul Zabel

St. John's Lutheran Church-Canada, Clifford