The Alliance of Renewal Churches


Mission Statement
Statement of Faith
Statement of Purpose
Paradigm of Transformation
Vision of the Future
Services to be Offered
Formation Process
Plan for Growth of the ARC
Questions and Answers about the ARC

     

Mission Statement

The Alliance of Renewal Churches is a network of autonomous churches under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We align ourselves for the purpose of kingdom advancement, including congregational renewal and the planting of churches, through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.

Statement of Faith

This We Believe

  • That God is One, revealed in the Scriptures as three persons, the Father, the source and creator of all, the Son, our Savior and Lord, and the Spirit, who calls us to faith and empowers us for effective service.
     
  • That Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, through His virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death on our behalf, and resurrection from the dead, offers eternal life to all who believe. That we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that the same grace that saves also empowers for victorious living.
     
  • That the whole human race has fallen and cannot be rescued from bondage to sin and to Satan without Christ.
     
  • That the Word of God, the Bible, is true, and that we can therefore trust in it without reservation. We accept all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as a whole and in all their parts as the divinely inspired and revealed Word of God and joyfully submit to it as the only infallible authority in all matters of life and faith.
     
  • That the Church is composed of all those who have been born of the Spirit by believing in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as the Head. We purpose to submit to Christ's headship in all things.
     
  • That baptism unites us with Christ's death and resurrection and the Lord's Supper gives us fellowship with the living Christ in His true body and blood.
     
  • That the local congregation consists of true believers, submitted to Christ, and carrying out His ministry and mandates in the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and that pastors help equip the members to do the ministry.
     
  • That the Holy Spirit gives gifts to all members of the Church to do the supernatural ministry of Christ until He returns. That Christ will return for His Bride, the Church, and that true believers will live forever with Christ, while unbelievers will be sent to eternal punishment.
     
  • That the Ecumenical creeds, the Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, are true declarations of the faith we affirm.
     
  • That how we live affirms or denies what we profess. We do not want to deny the Gospel by wrong living. We adorn our creed with our conduct.
     
  • That right relationships are as necessary as right theology. We will not invalidate sound doctrine by unsound attitudes and actions toward others.

Statement of Purpose

With the firm belief that we live at a time in history in which the Lord Jesus Christ desires to profoundly renew and equip His church, the Alliance of Renewal Churches is called to support and encourage churches in the process of congregational transformation and church planting.

  1. Congregational Transformation
    Being founded among those sharing a Lutheran heritage, the ARC recognizes the unique problems and substantial challenges inherent in bringing churches of similar mission through the process of congregational transformation, by which we mean spiritual health as described in the following pages. Therefore one of the primary purposes of the ARC is to aid the transformation process through the strength of a network of interdependent relationships.
     
    Within the relationships of the network there will be support and accountability to see that the work of renewal and kingdom expansion is accomplished. Toward this end the ARC will sponsor conferences, retreats, workshops, and seminars for teaching on renewal, training in ministry skills, fellowship in worship and prayer, and the establishing of accountability partnerships.
     
  2. Church Planting
    Healthy churches grow as they mature; and they also reproduce. To further the expansion of the Kingdom through church planting, the ARC will use the resources of the network to encourage and aid congregations in the church planting process. Not only is this a natural phase in the life of a healthy congregation, but it is also the most efficient means for reaching the lost. Newly planted churches tend to reach more lost people per member than established churches, and thus responsible stewardship of kingdom resources compels this step. Because this is a new journey for most of us, we must work together and rely on the Holy Spirit.

Paradigm of Transformation

While encouraged by the Lord's sovereign and gracious restoration of Biblical standards for His Church in our times, we nevertheless acknowledge how far the Church falls below those standards in many areas, and the vast scope and radical nature of the changes that transformation entails. These areas include:

  1. Radical Dependence on the Holy Spirit
    Jesus promised to send His Spirit to counsel, lead, and empower His Church. Without a radical dependency upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, we have no hope of fulfilling the Great Commission.
     
    (Note: Points 2-9 are drawn from research by Christian Schwartz as found in his book, Natural Church Development.)
      
  2. Empowering Leadership
    The biggest job of pastors is to equip people for the work of ministry. Pastors need to help the people reach their full destiny in Christ. All believers are true and legitimate ministers, and the role of the pastor is to lead the church in such a way as to create an environment conducive to the multiplication of ministry. Growth in ministry replaces the value and the culture of clergy domination in order to allow the members, the body of Christ, to try, experiment, fail, and succeed in a safe, accepting, empowering environment. The emphasis here is not on empowered leadership, but on empowering leadership, that is, giving power away.
     
  3. Gifts-Oriented Ministry
    It is the function of leadership to help people identify their God-given spiritual gifts and release them into appropriate areas of ministry. Many people serve with no thought to their gifting. People who are helped to discover their gifts and are trained and released to do what they have been created to do will experience fruitfulness, fulfillment, and joy.
      
  4. Passionate Spirituality
    People who are fervent in their faith, who talk about Jesus easily, and who freely share Christ in their community, who are open to the Spirit of God, who are committed to spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible reading, and tithing, will be contagious. This type of passion is modeled as well as taught-and outsiders will pick it up and will be drawn to Christ and to the church.
       
  5. Functional Structures
    Form follows function. When the form no longer fits, it needs to be put to rest, which means decisive, intentional, organizational change. While tradition has value, traditionalism (doing it the way we have always done it) is one of the strongest inhibitors of church health and renewal. Jesus taught that new wine needed new wineskins. Bringing structural change has often proven difficult within denominational culture, but it is necessary for spiritual health.
     
    This may include rewriting constitutions, dismantling permission-withholding committees, granting trust and authority to individual leaders in the congregation, and allowing them to design each ministry team's structure according to the gifts of the team members.
     
  6. Inspiring Worship
    The issue is not form or freedom, hymns or praise songs. The issue is whether people worship as the Father directs - in spirit and in truth. God-centered worship moves the worshipper from obligation to delight, from form to reality. This is enhanced when the heart language of our audience is considered while clearly communicating the gospel. Congregations who learn to design their worship service from a missiological standpoint in order to reach the lost in their communities in our increasingly post-Christian culture are making a proper distinction between style and substance.
      
  7. Holistic Small Groups
    Community does not happen merely on Sunday morning. It happens where Christians gather in small groups for practical help in more intensive spiritual interaction. It is in these small groups that the messages taught in the larger gatherings are discussed and applied. Small groups are therefore indispensable for healthy church life. The corporate culture of our churches needs to adopt its own unique style of the small group dynamic in order to provide loving community-based discipleship and enable every member to grow.
      
  8. Need-Oriented Evangelism
    Find a need and meet it -- and people will be ready to listen. The most effective entry point into the faith is one-on-one interaction through touching people in their areas of need. Ministries that equip people to reach out to their friends and neighbors by meeting their needs will draw them to Christ. To this end, the church must become relevant to the needs of the lost by intentional research and targeted action.
      
  9. Loving Relationships
    Living, loving relationships in a congregation make others want to join that family. How much laughter is heard in the hallways? Do people invite others over for dinner? Do members stick around after church to share together? The move from program-oriented involvement to relational involvement can only be achieved by intentional, targeted, strategic initiatives led by called and gifted leadership.
      
  10. Church Planting
    The Alliance of Renewal Churches will support and encourage churches to plant other churches. It is the conviction of the ARC that churches can reproduce themselves. The ARC will provide training, consultation, and resources to equip its member churches in the vital task of church planting.

A Vision of the Future for the ARC

A vision is what can be seen. Here is what we see down the road for the Alliance of Renewal Churches. It comes from New Testament pictures of the Church.

The Church is a Family (Ephesians 2:19; 3:14,15)

  • We love getting together with our families, and this will be true of the ARC. Pastors will come home refreshed from conventions and conferences, because they will have been with their family, those they have a relationship with. Pastors and congregations will receive care because people care for their families. A vital prayer network will keep needs before the Alliance. Congregations will feel cared for by the ARC Leadership Council rather than used.
     
  • Families grow new families. Children leave home and start their own family; so do healthy churches. The ARC will plant hundreds of churches in the next generation. It will be the expectation that healthy local churches will start local churches. Some graduates of The Master's Institute will be church planters. This will be one of the most effective evangelistic tools of the ARC. Church plants will be the responsibility of the local church rather than the ARC Leadership Council, although funding may come from the central office to support church plants.
     
  • We envision healthy churches helping struggling churches, providing resources and counsel.
     
  • Mentoring will take place between older pastors and younger pastors as in a family where older siblings help younger brothers and sisters.

The Church is a Body (Ephesians 1:22,23; 2:16; 4:4; 4:11-16)

  • The headship of Jesus Christ will be living and dynamic. The members of the ARC will be submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Voting at conventions will happen only on rare occasions, if ever. The business of the ARC will be done by affirmed leaders who seek to discern the will of the Head. The single issue will be: what is the will of the Head? Disagreements will be approached with this single question as the bottom line: what is the will of the Head? Because the ARC will take seriously the Lordship of Christ, unity will be the norm, not the exception.
      
  • In a body, there is coordination rather than competition. The ARC will be a powerful tool for mission, because God comes with His blessing and power where His people are united.
      
  • Accountability will be a natural and necessary function, just as a physical body functions to cares for itself, look out for itself, and heal itself.

The Church is a Building (Ephesians 2:20-22)

  • When churches build on the right foundation they will grow into healthy bodies.
     
  • We see authority being vested in leaders who have proven ministries and who are recognized as Spirit-empowered leaders. They are discerned to have the authority from the Spirit and are therefore given place to do ministry. This process of discernment is not always an easy one. It takes listening to the Spirit and deferring to one another, such as can be seen in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15).

The Church is a Bride (Ephesians 5:22-33)

  • The Bride loves the Bridegroom with passion. We envision congregations, conventions, and conferences in which expressive worship is the norm, where the Bride demonstrates her love for the Bridegroom beautifully and extravagantly, including dancing, flag-waving, silent adoration and exuberant praise.
     
  • We see a Church focusing on Jesus the Bridegroom in all that it does, submitting joyfully to its Lord and Head in all things.
     
  • This is a new paradigm and it will be hard for some churches to transition from a traditional denominational understanding. We see "marital problems" and some "divorces" as people discover that this relationship is established on different foundational principles.

The Church is an Army (Ephesians 6:10-18)

  • An army organizes for strategic mission. It has a clear goal in mind and it stays focused: to win the war. One of the primary purposes for the formation of the ARC is strategic mission. Sixty million Lutherans worldwide need to be impacted by the Spirit and they need a vision for the harvest. What happens with the ARC in America will impact Lutherans in other countries in the years ahead. The ARC is an international association. Churches need to be planted in Tanzania and Taiwan, in Finland and Iceland. International coordinators of the ARC can expand this mission around the world.
      
  • We envision conferences equipping pastors and congregations for their mission. They will function as high-level strategic meetings.

The Church is a Vine (John 15:1-17)

  • Healthy churches bear fruit. The ARC will help churches move into the dynamic of the Spirit.
     
  • Pruning will take place, as churches discover that much of what they were doing did not bring fruit.
     
  • We see the resources of Natural Church Development becoming a major asset in ARC churches, bringing new health to the Vine. Churches will be doing less of what does not make a difference and more of what does.

Services to be Offered

  • Network affiliation with churches and church leaders of like spirit and mind, worldwide.
     
  • Opportunities for personal pastoral accountability through relationships with other ARC pastors and leaders.
     
  • Coaching, counseling, and mentoring in the process of congregational renewal and church planting for member churches.
     
  • Access to seasoned and anointed speakers at ARC events.
      
  • Congregational access to pastoral graduates from the Master's Institute (M.I.)

Formation Process

The formation of the ARC was accomplished by teams of volunteers organized into three groups corresponding to the various issues that need to be addressed. These were Relational and Organizational Issues, Legal and Financial Issues, and Constitutional Issues.

The ARC Formation Team gave oversight to the formation process to maintain integrity of the vision, values, and paradigms that have developed as a result of their prayers, discernment, and discussion process.

Members of the ARC formation team were:
Paul Anderson (Acting Director), Eric Bluhm, Bob Cottingham, Jeff Dorman, Mark Hultquist, Kevin McClure, Dan and Denise Siemens, Fred Thoni, and Todd Wallace.

The Formation Team was disbanded when the Leadership Team was formed on June 4, 2002.

Plan for Growth of the ARC

This ARC is being birthed out of the existing network of relationships of Lutheran Renewal, and therefore the ministry of Lutheran Renewal is the initial prime means of recruiting membership. At this time these relationships exist only through the Lutheran Renewal ministry.

If the ARC is to grow, however, it will become the responsibility of ARC staff to contact, visit, and articulate the vision of the ARC to potential member churches. This should be coordinated with Lutheran Renewal in a mutually beneficial manner.

Venues for recruitment should include:

  • Invitations, both written and personal, to the ARC formation events
     
  • Presentations at all ARC events
     
  • Congregational visits by ARC staff
     
  • Targeted mailings to all Lutheran Renewal "Renewal Minded" congregations
     
  • Congregations within the sphere of influence of founding congregations will be invited to attend presentations on the ARC

Questions and Answers about the ARC

THE ARC AS A NETWORK

WILL THE ARC BE A DENOMINATION?
Not in the sense that the word is normally understood. The ARC will put more emphasis on local church autonomy and on relationships between churches than on a centralized structure. Many of the responsibilities traditionally belonging to denominational headquarters will reside with the local church, such as the training of church leaders, the planting of churches, and the sending of missionaries. The ARC will be built on relationships and will encourage churches to network together for strategic mission.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ARC'S UNIQUENESS AS A NETWORK?
It is more like a movement than a denomination. Because the ARC will be decentralized, there will be only a limited number of projects initiated from the organization. It is relationship-based and function/action-oriented. Most denominations are oriented around a theological statement. While the ARC has a Statement of Faith, its values and vision are its rallying point. People in the ARC are on a journey of discovery-to better understand what it means to be a Spirit-empowered church body in the 21st century. Networks like the ARC are being developed around the country and around the world. The ARC is not attempting to establish a "perfect church" but a proper wineskin for our day.

THE ARC IS SAID TO BE OPERATING UNDER A NEW PARADIGM. WHAT DOES THAT INCLUDE?

  • Gift-based ministry in which people function in ministry according to their gifts, as opposed to the manner in which committees often function
     
  • An empowering, leadership-led church
     
  • Vision-directed ministry rather than heritage-driven ministry
     
  • Leadership that equips and empowers people for ministry
     
  • Evangelism through discovering and meeting the needs of people
     
  • Small group ministry
     
  • Local churches planting local churches

ARC LEADERSHIP

HOW WILL THE LEADERS OF THE ARC BE CHOSEN?
The Leadership Team of the ARC will initially be recommended by the ARC Formation Team and affirmed by the ARC members at its network convention. The ARC Leadership Team will choose its Team Leader. Future members will be recommended by an ARC member and affirmed by unanimous approval of the ARC Leadership Team. Members of the Leadership Team will serve four-year terms, not to exceed two terms.

WHAT WILL BE THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEADERSHIP TEAM?
The ARC is still in process and will be for several years. The ARC Leadership Team will guide this process. They will convene the major network meetings. They will give oversight to the ARC, maintaining theological and ethical integrity. The Team will encourage the networking of ministries for the purpose of strategic mission. They will also serve as a court of last resort in judgments concerning conflict in pastoral accountability disputes.

WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE ARC LEADERSHIP TEAM?
The ARC was officially launched at our Inaugural Gathering on June 3-4, 2002. During this time, members to the ARC Leadership Team were appointed. They are:

  • Paul Anderson, Director of Lutheran Renewal
  • Eric Bluhm, Director of Spiritual Growth at North Heights Lutheran in Arden Hills, MN
  • Bob Cottingham, Senior Pastor at North Heights Lutheran in Arden Hills, MN
  • Joe Johnson, Senior Pastor at Grace Lutheran in Show Low, AZ;
  • Graeme Sellers, Senior Pastor at Nativity Lutheran in Gilbert, AZ
  • Fred Thoni, Associate Pastor at East Immanuel Lutheran in St. Paul, MN.

HOW DO PASTORS FUNCTION IN THE ARC?
One of the primary functions of a pastor is to raise up and release people to do ministry (Ephesians 4:11,12). This operates through mutual trust between the pastor and the people.

WHAT WILL THE ACCOUNTABILITY STRUCTURE LOOK LIKE?
The ARC contains two levels of accountability. The ARC Leadership Council will give oversight to the organizational aspect of the ministry. It will also serve as a court of last resort for serious issues that may come up in a congregation or among its leaders, such as financial impropriety, moral failure, or theological issues.

PASTORAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Pastoral accountability is a relationship that a pastor voluntarily submits to for the purpose of spiritual health and protection both for the congregation and the pastor. This kind of oversight is not instituted quickly. Rather, it grows over a period of time as relationships develop with respected people whom the pastor and the congregation learn to trust. Accountability partners are not mandated from the outside but chosen because of the value found in the relationship. Accountability is based on strong personal commitments rather than simply on formal agreements. Accountability assumes that both the pastor and the congregation understand the wisdom of third party involvement in the life of the church and welcome it as God connects them to valued outside pastoral leaders. All ARC churches will have an accountability structure. It will not be imposed from without but chosen from within. Congregational members will know who the leaders are (at least two) to whom the pastor willingly submits. These leaders will be given the authority by pastors and congregations to speak into the pastors' lives, to hold them accountable, and to aid them in living with integrity in every aspect of their personal lives and ministries.

WHERE WILL ARC PASTORS RECEIVE THEIR SEMINARY TRAINING?
The Master's Institute (MI) will be closely related to the ARC and will train many pastors for the ARC. It will not only provide leadership training but will also assist in the placement process as well.

Pastors will not be required however, to graduate from MI, and each leader will be encouraged to seek out the best route to his/her own personal preparation for ministry.

THE THEOLOGY OF THE ARC

IS THE ARC LUTHERAN?
Yes, in the same sense that Lutheran Renewal is Lutheran. It is Lutheran in its Reformation theology (Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone). It ministers in Lutheran churches around the country and around the world, though not exclusively. It is Lutheran in theology and ecumenical in spirit. ARC invites people to join who both appreciate their Lutheran heritage and theology as well as living under the Lordship of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

ARE CONGREGATIONS BEING ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE THEIR DENOMINATION?
No. That is a question that each congregation needs to answer for itself. The ARC will be a network for churches that leave and churches that stay. Many denominations do not provide the kind of relational network that will exist in the ARC. Some churches have left their synod, but they do not want to abandon their Lutheran heritage. They prefer to maintain a Lutheran-Christian identity, and they can do this with the ARC.

ARE NON-LUTHERANS WELCOME TO JOIN THE ARC?
Yes, as long as they agree with the Statement of Faith.

HOW WILL THE ARC INSURE THEOLOGICAL INTEGRITY IN LOCAL CONGREGATIONS?
One strength of the ARC will be its accountability structure, to which pastors willingly submit. A network like the ARC has strong potential for the maintenance of theological integrity, because the relationships are in place to provide for accountability. The strongest basis for maintaining orthodoxy is relationship, not a statement of faith or constitutional provision for discipline.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THEOLOGICAL UNITY?
Theological unity on the essentials of the faith is important. But theology alone does not create a compelling vision. What also brings ARC churches together is the mission to which it is called to bring spiritual transformation and to plant churches.

VALUES

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE VALUES OF THE ARC?

  • Radical dependence upon the Holy Spirit
  • Submission to Jesus Christ as the Lord of the Church
  • Love for the Father
  • Obedience to The Great Commandment (worship) and the Great Commission (witness)
  • Relationships built upon openness and brokenness

WHAT CAN CHURCHES EXPECT FROM THE ARC?

  • Strategic alignment-networking together for mission
  • Prayer network
  • Help in bringing congregational renewal
  • An atmosphere for accountability and spiritual covering
  • Resources for improving church health, bringing renewal, deepening spiritual life, bringing change, and planting churches
  • Mentoring-according to need, request, and availability
  • Strong training for Christian leaders through The Master's Institute

WHAT DOES THE ARC EXPECT FROM MEMBER CHURCHES?

  • Commitment to both the statement of faith and to the mission of the ARC
  • Willingness to network together for strategic mission
  • Desire to participate in ARC gatherings for fellowship and growth
  • Openness to walk in accountability
  • Commitment to contribute financially to the ARC
  • Willingness to change for the sake of the Gospel

WHAT IS THE HOPE FOR THE ARC?

  • The bonding of the hearts of the pastors and congregations
  • A network in which the local church is served by the ARC Leadership Council
  • Conferences that minister life, that build relationships, that teach and equip
  • The raising up and releasing of Christian leaders for ministry, for church planting, for cross-cultural ministry, and for other areas of leadership

JOINING THE ARC

WHY SHOULD CHURCHES CONSIDER JOINING THE ARC?

  • Because the ARC is a new wineskin that seeks to answer to the needs of a new day
  • Because it is built on relationships that provide strong impetus for mission
  • Because of its strategic mission
  • Because the ARC is related to a seminary that is effectively training leaders for Christian ministry

WHO SHOULD CONSIDER JOINING THE ARC?

  • Those who favor the old message and new methods
  • Those both willing to pay the price to change in order to enjoy the fruit
  • Those concerned that 60 million Lutherans (and others) know the empowering presence of the Spirit
  • Those who have a passion to win the lost

HOW WILL CHURCHES JOIN THE ARC?

  • The church will request an application from the ARC office.
  • If we are not familiar with your congregation, an ARC representative will visit your church and meet with its leadership.
  • The ARC leadership council will review the application.
  • Churches must have a 75% affirmative vote.

IS THERE A FEE TO JOIN THE ARC?
No, there will be no administrative or membership fees. The ARC will be solely funded by the contributions of its supporters.

CAN A PASTOR JOIN IF THE CONGREGATION DOES NOT?
Because one goal of the ARC is to help congregations of Lutheran heritage transition into the present work of the Spirit, congregations and not just pastors are encouraged to be in association with the ARC. The purpose goes beyond fellowship to strategic mission. So if a pastor is renewal-minded, but does not choose to take his/her congregation in that direction, there would be no reason to join the ARC. If, however, a pastor says, "I am willing to, and I have spoken with my council, but we need help," the ARC could help bring that assistance. In addition, if there is a pastor in special circumstances, for example, working through a para-church ministry, they will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Para-church ministries are welcome to join the ARC. They may find it most conducive to networking within the ARC if they are able to associate locally with an ARC congregation.

SHOULD AN INDEPENDENT LUTHERAN CHURCH JOIN THE ARC?
Yes. While we are encouraging local autonomy, we are also recommending the kind of networking in the ARC that provides prayer, accountability, strategic strength for common mission, and mutual encouragement. Healthy churches that are independent will see the strength of being interdependent. Just as individuals need a body (a local church), so churches need a body, an association. The ARC will have a clergy roster and will be training up new pastors through The Master's Institute that could be called to ARC churches as well as those trained in other leadership training institutions.

WILL THERE BE LEVELS OF ASSOCIATION IN THE ARC?
Yes, but they are yet to be worked out. Because some churches will have more than one association, its relationship to the ARC may differ from a congregation whose sole relationship is the ARC.

ARE THERE LIABILITIES TO JOINING THE ARC?
Yes. The ARC is a new wineskin, a new structure, a new way of organizing a group of churches together. Paradigm shifts take time to adjust to. The ARC is committed to helping congregations of Lutheran heritage transition into a structure that is relationship-based rather than simply organizationally based. This will come through networking together, through teaching at conferences, conventions, and through teaching newsletters. Such profound transformation is costly. Some congregations may be unwilling or unable to make this important transition, and they would not fit in the ARC family at this time.

OTHER QUESTIONS

WILL THE ARC BE PROVIDING A PENSION AND HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN?
The ARC will not provide a pension and health insurance plan unique to itself, but does plan to be able to recommend pension and health insurance options for congregations to use. The responsibility to do so belongs to the local church in keeping with the value of local autonomy.

WILL THE ARC BE NATIONAL IN SCOPE RATHER THAN TWIN-CITIES OR UPPER MIDWEST?
The Formation Team sees the importance of ARC being national rather than provincial. A council will be chosen to reflect this conviction. We also see the potential of ARC having an international dimension. There are 60 million people out there who claim a Lutheran heritage. Inquiries have come from outside the United States. We continue to seek direction from the Lord as this vision matures.

ARE THERE QUESTIONS WITH NO ANSWERS AT THIS POINT?

  • If congregations are in two different associations, that means two different clergy rosters. It seems that a pastor would have to choose one or the other, right? It seems that way.
     
  • With two associations, to whom is the congregation primarily accountable? What if the associations are in disagreement on major issues?