The Common Confession Bible Study is Here!

The new Bible Study on the Common Confession has finally arrived! You can download it for free from the LC3 website. Find it on the Common Confession web page, or go there directly by clicking on this link: http://www.commonconfession.net/confessdownloadset.htm .

The study was written by members of the LC3 Steering Committee, and edited by the Rev. Steven King, of Maple Lake, Minnesota. It is comprised of seven sessions, one for each article of the Common Confession, written in a straightforward question and discussion format. Each lesson features an introduction, passages from the Small Catechism, the Lutheran Confessions, and the ELCA Confession of Faith. The second half of each two-sided sheet includes a number of discussion questions -- some focusing on an expository Scripture text, and others on a narrative Bible story. Additional Scripture references are also provided for further reading.

Available on the same web page as the Bible Study are the essays on the Common Confession written by the Steering Committee of Lutheran CORE. These commentaries can serve as background and supplementary material for the study, helping to make the connection between biblical doctrine and our modern context.

Check it out … and don’t forget to tell your pastor and lay leaders about this free resource.

Lutheran CORE Report - June 2006

Dear Friends and Co-Workers,

The initial gathering for Lutheran CORE was held, May 1, 2006, at Calvary Lutheran, Golden Valley, Minnesota. At this initial gathering we elected Ryan Schwarz to the steering committee; voted to retain the steering committee membership through the 2007 churchwide assembly; and adopted a revised set of organizing principles for Lutheran CORE, which are appended to this letter.

Right now the most urgent task for all of us is effective witness within the synods. Everyone is urged to engage in dialog with those who have been elected as voting members to the churchwide assembly. One of the priorities of Lutheran CORE is the election of leaders for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The 2007 churchwide assembly will elect a presiding bishop and secretary and people to the Church Council and various boards and divisions of our church. It is also likely that the issue of human sexuality will come before the assembly in some form. It is, therefore, very important that Lutheran CORE members and friends work with others who espouse our values and positions.

Lutheran CORE seeks to be a confessing and confessional movement within the ELCA. We are not about forming a new church body, nor do we intend to leave the ELCA. Our mission is to be a reforming movement within the ELCA. Our intention is to be a voice for the authority of the Word of God within our church. Our prayer is that the ELCA, and especially our leaders, follow the leading of Holy Scripture in matters of faith and practice. The election of leadership in our church is important work for all of us.

Additionally, as a steering committee, we are watching attentively some other issues within our church. The naming of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in worship and Christian education is a particular concern for us; as is also the continuing struggle for Biblical norms for marriage and sexuality.

Equally worrisome to us are proposals for developing a study on how Lutherans interpret the Bible. We are pleased that the ELCA is focusing on the Bible and its interpretation. But, in view of the situation in our church on such matters, we are frankly anxious about what may emerge. To this end, the Lutheran CORE steering committee is exploring how we may engage proactively in this conversation.

People often ask us what they can do for Lutheran CORE. We need your prayerful support - prayer for our work, but also prayer for our church. We invite you to join us in interceding for the reform of all God's people.

We urge you to speak with others whom you know and encourage them to become a part of our effort and ministry. We are in this for the long haul, and we need the support that others can give us. Your spreading the word about Lutheran CORE is vitally important in assisting us. If you are not already in touch with the Lutheran CORE contact in your synod, please get in in touch and join our local efforts. You may write to Paull Spring or to Mark Chavez for the CORE contact in your synod.

You may also support us financially. The expense of operations at the 2007 churchwide assembly will be considerable. Checks may be made out to WordAlone Network, with a memo, "Lutheran CORE," and may be sent to the WordAlone Network, 2299 Palmer Dr. #220, New Brighton, MN 55112. While Lutheran CORE is not an arm of the WordAlone Network, we are grateful for our relationship with them, and we are grateful that the Network is handling administrative responsibilities and allowing us to function with them.

We are grateful to have you with us in our ministry. Our goal is to reform our church under the Word of God. With the Spirit's help, we seek to speak to the church with the Word of God. That Word is "living and active" (Hebrews 4:12). It speaks to us in judgment and grace. It lives in the body of the risen Christ. It becomes visible for us in preaching and sacrament. It is recorded for us on the pages of Holy Scripture.

Trusting and hoping in God, we treasure the words of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians, "We do not lose heart. We refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God" (II, 4:2-3).

Lutheran CORE Steering Committee:
Paull Spring, State College, Pennsylvania chair
Erma Wolf, Brandon, South Dakota, vice chair
Stevens Shipman, Watsontown, Pennsylvania, secretary
Mark Chavez, New Brighton, Minnesota
Mark Graham, Roanoke, Virginia
Scott Grorud, Hutchinson, Minnesota
Ken Kimball, Waterville, Iowa
Russ Saltzman, Kansas City, Kansas
Ryan Schwarz, Washington, D. C.
Paul Ulring, Columbus, Ohio