Newspaper article from North Carolina

This is a good article from the Salisbury (NC) Post.  It is nice to get public recognition.

Pr. Jim Lehmann -- Dean

 

By Ronnie Smith

Special to the Salisbury Post

The National Executive Council of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), a new and fast-growing Lutheran denomination, selected Salisbury and Rowan County as the host site for its 2011 quarterly meeting this week.

 

NALC Bishop Paull Spring and members of the executive council from around the country gathered at Christiana Lutheran Church for the three-day meeting and conference.

 

The event kicked off with a public forum Wednesday evening and continued through Friday.

The national Steering Committee for Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) also joined the NALC for this business meeting. Spring began the conference by announcing that the executive committee had selected North Carolina and Rowan County as its meeting site because of the support from Lutherans and Lutheran congregations in the area.

 

North Carolina and Texas lead the nation with the largest number of NALC-affiliated Lutheran churches.  The NALC is an outgrowth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and was formed and officially constituted in 2010 as a return to the scriptural authority of the Bible and the traditional values of the Lutheran Church.

 

“The NALC is based on four major guiding principles of the Lutheran Church, including Christ centered, mission driven, traditionally grounded and congregationally-focused,” Spring said.

 

The 2011 national Convocation of the NALC will be held in August in Columbus, Ohio, the site of last year’s conference.

 

Seventeen Lutheran churches in Rowan County and the surrounding area have voted to join the NALC and/or Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). Local Lutheran churches include Christiana, Organ, Salem, St. Matthew’s, St. Paul’s, Union, Salisbury; Concordia, China Grove; Trinity, Landis; and New Life, New London.

 

“We are extremely pleased with the overwhelming response the NALC has received from Lutheran churches across America and throughout the world,” Spring said. “The NALC is a new beginning for the Lutheran Church in America. We are pleased that North Carolina and especially Rowan County are playing such an important role in its growth and success,” Spring said.