Church of the Lutheran Confession

Church of the Lutheran Confession
Classification	Lutheran
Orientation	Confessional Lutheran
Theology	Old Lutheranrepristination of Lutheran Orthodoxy
Polity	Congregational
Associations	Eglise Lutherienne de Confession du Congo · Crown of Glory Lutheran Church (in Ghana) · The Church of the Lutheran Confession of India · The Berea Evangelical Lutheran Church (in India) · The Church of the Lutheran Confession of Kenya Etago · Church of the Lutheran Confession of Myanmar · Himalayan Church of the Lutheran Confession (in Nepal) · The Nigerian Church of the Lutheran Confession · The Church of the Lutheran Confession of East Africa · Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne de Confession du Togo
Region	24 States within the United States and various missions
Founder	Paul Albrecht, former District President of the Dakota-Montana district of the WELS
Origin	1960 Sleepy Eye, Minnesota.
Separated from	mainly the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Separations	The Lutheran Church of East Africa (in Tanzania) · Lutheran Conference of Confessional Fellowship
Congregations	85
Members	8,631 baptized Foreign mission churches total about 50,000 baptized

Lutheranism in the United States
Mainline Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Evangelical Mekane Yesus Fellowship in North America Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ North American Lutheran Church
Heritage of the Synodical Conference of North America Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches Church of the Lutheran Confession Concordia Lutheran Conference Evangelical Lutheran Synod Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheran Churches of the Reformation Orthodox Lutheran Confessional Conference Protes'tant Conference United Lutheran Mission Association Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Heritage of the LFC or ALC American Association of Lutheran Churches Association of Free Lutheran Congregations Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America Conservative Lutheran Association Lutheran Ministerium and Synod - USA
Heritage of the Awakening Apostolic Lutheran Church of America Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America Laestadian Lutheran Church
High Church Revival Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church Evangelical Catholic Church Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America International Lutheran Fellowship
Charismatic Revival Alliance of Renewal Churches

The Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) is a conservative Christian religious body theologically adhering to confessional Lutheran doctrine. Founded in 1960 in Minnesota, it has approximately 85 congregations in 24 U.S. states, and missions in Canada, India, Africa, Nepal, and Myanmar.

The CLC maintains its headquarters at its ministerial college; Immanuel Lutheran High School, College & Seminary in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Various Lutheran congregations left their synods during the 1950s and were independent at first. They began meeting together in 1957. The Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC) was formed around the time of the break-up of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America in 1963.

The CLC was created primarily (though not solely) from congregations that broke away from the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) in a disagreement about the application of the principles of Christian fellowship (in this context, an agreement of a unity of belief). The CLC maintained that the WELS and ELS misapplied those principles by not breaking with the Synodical Conference and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod after they had publicly recognized doctrinal error within those bodies.

While there were joint talks in the 1990s between the CLC and the WELS and ELS to resolve the dispute, no resolution was reached. Recently, the WELS and ELS have been in formal discussions with the CLC over doctrinal issues. The goal of these discussions is to restore fellowship with each other.

The CLC teaches that the Bible is the only authoritative source for doctrine. It subscribes to the Lutheran Confessions (the Book of Concord, 1580) as an accurate presentation of what Scripture teaches. It is strongly linked to the concept of sola scriptura—scripture alone, and its website states, "If it is not Scripture; it is not Lutheran."

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