EPCAAL
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Église protestante de la Confession d’Augsbourg d’Alsace et de Lorraine Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine |
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|---|---|
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Lutheran |
| Polity | Presbyterial-synodal polity |
| Leader | Christian Albecker |
| Associations | CCR, CPCE, FPF, LWF, UEPAL and WCC |
| Headquarters | Strasbourg, Alsace |
| Origin | 1872 Strasbourg |
| Branched from | Evangelical Lutheran Church of France |
| Separations | Evangelical Lutheran Church – Synod of France |
| Congregations | 208 |
| Members | 210,000 |
The Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (French: Église protestante de la Confession d’Augsbourg d’Alsace et de Lorraine, EPCAAL; German: Protestantische Kirche Augsburgischen Bekenntnisses von Elsass und Lothringen, Kirche A.B. von Elsass und Lothringen) is a Lutheran church of public-law corporation status (établissement public du culte) in France. The ambit of the EPCAAL comprises congregations in Alsace and the Lorrain Moselle department.
The EPCAAL adheres to the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed, Luther's Small and Large Catechisms, the Formula of Concord, and the Tetrapolitan Confession. The EPCAAL has approximately 210,000 members (as of 2010) in 208 congregations. Congregations holding services in German language use the current German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch (EG) in a regional edition (Ausgabe Baden / Elsass-Lothringen) that includes traditional hymns from Alsace, Baden, and Moselle.
In 1961 the EPCAAL was a founding member of the Conference of Churches on the Rhine, which now functions as a regional group of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). The first conference took place in EPCAAL's conference centre, the former convent of Liebfrauenberg near Gœrsdorf. Since 2006, the EPCAAL has been a member of the Union of Protestant Churches of Alsace and Lorraine, an administrative umbrella with the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (EPRAL). This is not a united body, but it provides a common decision-making structure and a common body of pastors. However, the two churches maintain their own organisation. The EPCAAL is also a member of the Fédération protestante de France (FPF, Protestant Federation of France) and of the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Council of Churches. The EPCAAL had close fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France.
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