What denominations would I fit into? (CC)

[momtolgd]

I was raised in an ELCA (Lutheran) church. I am not comfortable with the direction they are going however. Yet I feel most comfortable with their worship service (liturgical) and feel out of place without that structure. I'm feeling kind of lost and without a church but don't know how to remedy this.

 

Most of the Christians I know in our area go to churches that are conservative and Baptist, Mennonite Brethren, Non-denominational...etc. I don't feel like those are right for me. I think I may be the only one that leans more on the center to liberal side. So I really don't have anyone close to me to ask about this.

 

Any thoughts?

[Ellie]

What about Catholic?

[lionfamily1999]

Methodist?

[Dmmetler]

Have you tried a LCMS church? They're more conservative, as a rule, than ECLA, and are very "Lutheran". I've heard that WELS is even more conservative, but have not attended a WELS church.

 

Obviously, it depends on the pastor and the local synod, but I know LCMS has been a good fit for me. The only downside for us is that since our church has a parochial school, homeschoolers are very few in number.

[GWOB]

LCMS! Still Lutheran, but more conservative than ELCA. We'd love to have you.

[smrtmama]

Have you tried an Episcopal church? They have a formally structured worship service, if that's something that appeals to you, but many Episcopalian congregations tend to fall on the more liberal side of things.

[Tangerine]

Have you tried a LCMS church? They're more conservative, as a rule, than ECLA, and are very "Lutheran". I've heard that WELS is even more conservative, but have not attended a WELS church.

 

 

I thought she was asking for a less conservative church. Am I misunderstanding? :confused:

[kokotg]

I thought she was asking for a less conservative church. Am I misunderstanding? :confused:

 

I'm unclear on this, too. When you said "unhappy with the direction they're going" I immediately assumed you meant because of the vote to allow openly gay pastors (but you know what they say about assuming). But then you said you were more liberal. If you are indeed looking for more liberal, I'm fairly well versed in denominations.

[GWOB]

I thought she was asking for a less conservative church. Am I misunderstanding? :confused:

 

She is, but I took it a different way. If you know the direction the ELCA church is going, you know it is going a bit more to the left than many of its members are comfortable with. I personally am a bit left of center, yet feel completely at home in the LCMS.

 

Someone else suggested the Episcopalian church. That may be a good fit too. You get the Liturgy, but have the freedom to be left-of-center.

[forty-two]

Quite a few ELCA churches are leaving over the recent changes - maybe you could see if you could find one of them, or at least a congregation that is sympathetic to them; here is a website for an organization formed by the former ELCA pastors and congregations - it lists affiliated congregations.

 

Also, the LCMS might be an option for you, if you are ok with not ordaining women - many do tend to be right of center, but ime politics (aside from mentions of abortion and homosexuality) rarely comes up.

 

There are other, smaller, Lutheran denominations that are more liberal than the LCMS but more conservative than ELCA - you could try to see what Lutheran churches are in your area and see who they are affiliated with; also, you could just try visiting them all - I know of at least one political liberal who belongs to a *very* theologically conservative Lutheran church (WELS), and is very comfortable there.

 

As far as non-Lutheran groups go, you could try to find one of the Anglican churches that split off from the main U.S. Episcopal denom. last year, and there is also Catholic and Orthodox.

[FairProspects]

Presbyterian? The presbytery varies by state, but they have a firm service structure, yet still allow women clergy, etc.

[momtolgd]

Let me clarify a bit more...

 

Yes, the changes I was referring to was the vote to allow gay pastors. When I said my friends were conservative, I meant they are to the far right. I am more in the middle and slightly left.

 

I will look more into LCMS...there is a LCMS church a couple blocks from my home. Maybe I will attend there tomorrow and try to get a feel for it.

[Tutor]

Presbyterian? The presbytery varies by state, but they have a firm service structure, yet still allow women clergy, etc.

 

Depends on the flavor of Presbyterian. PCUSA leans more left. PCA more right. OPC way more right.

[mommaduck]

Depends on the flavor of Presbyterian. PCUSA leans more left. PCA more right. OPC way more right.

Then the URCNA, then the RPCNA, and WAAAAAYYYY over on the extreme right is the PRC and the FPC :p

[Alessandra]

You have got some really good ideas -- here are a few others, just from my own experience.

 

One possibility would be to check out conservative Episcopal churches -- many have broken away from the main Episcopal group in the U,S. and call themselves Anglican. The more liturgical ones are so called Anglo-Catholic churches, but some of these will be very liberal (in the sense that you are talking about) and some will be very conservative.

 

You would have a fairly confusing search, but you could find a good fit -- liturgical, conservative theologically, but not very conservative in other areas. It also depends on where you live, as movements tend to have geographic homes.

 

Another possibility is Anglican Rite Roman Catholic -- tend to have beautiful liturgy. Again, more of these in some geographic areas than in others.

 

Yet another possibility is OCA (Orthodox Church in America). Just attend a service (Saturday evening vespers would be easier than Sunday morning) and see how it strikes you. Ditto Antiochean Orthodox. Make sure to find a church that is not too ethnic -- services in English is a good indicator.

[LibraryLover]

Have you tried an Episcopal church? They have a formally structured worship service, if that's something that appeals to you, but many Episcopalian congregations tend to fall on the more liberal side of things.

 

 

I was going to say. :)

[DaffodilDreams]

You sound like me. Episcopalian at heart, but found a wonderful, small, family friendly, open-minded Presbyterian church that we just love and that works for my daughter's age. She'd most likely be miserable in an Episcopalian service.

[lisamarie]

As far as non-Lutheran groups go, you could try to find one of the Anglican churches that split off from the main U.S. Episcopal denom. last year.

 

This is what I was going to suggest. My DH and I are in the process of joining an Anglican church that is part of the Anglican Mission to the Americas branch--more conservative. Friends of ours have actually followed us to this church because they were part of an ELCA church and decided it was time to leave with the latest changes. They really liked our church as the structure is very similar.

[ProudGrandma]

I PMed you...twice...actually...

[ScoutTN]

As opposed to Episcopalian might be a good option.

Formal, traditional worship but do not support/have practicing homosexuals as ministers or bishops. Worship would look similar to Lutheran - ministers wear vestments, infants are baptized, seasons of the church year etc.

Tend to be left of typical evangelical churches (at least in the US), but still hold to basic, historic Christian doctrine as in the Apostles Creed. Many Anglican churches ordain women and are very active in ministry to the poor.

[Chris in VA]

I was raised in an ELCA (Lutheran) church. I am not comfortable with the direction they are going however. Yet I feel most comfortable with their worship service (liturgical) and feel out of place without that structure. I'm feeling kind of lost and without a church but don't know how to remedy this.

 

Most of the Christians I know in our area go to churches that are conservative and Baptist, Mennonite Brethren, Non-denominational...etc. I don't feel like those are right for me. I think I may be the only one that leans more on the center to liberal side. So I really don't have anyone close to me to ask about this.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

You could also check out the Reformed Episcopal Church. They split off from the Episcopalians in the late 1800's, largely due to the Oxford Movement, and are typically conservative but socially active, with liturgy but pretty Protestant (no making the sign of the cross or genuflecting, often Morning Prayer 3X month then Eucharist vs Weekly Eucharist--these are more "high church/Anglo-Catholic Episcopalian" traditions).

[Terabith]

My ELCA church just broke away and joined a LCMC group. There aren't a lot of them, but they are growing like wildfire.

 

http://www.lcmc.net

[at the beach]

We are ELCA. I'm feeling your pain. Our pastor is not on board with what's going on but nothing has been done. So, I'm wondering what to do now.

 

We used to be LCMS. The LCMS that I went to was more conservative but that's not what bothered me. It was the stern atmosphere. They were also big on visiting people without calling first. When my kids were baptized, my family (who belonged to other churches and had attended the baptisms) received visits in the evening from the visiting committee without prior notice. They used the names off the sign in registry. They had also gotten into these contemporary worship service and those were the ones they had on Saturday night, and I wasn't crazy about that, either.

 

Right now, I am confused myself. My mil is Catholic. My dad was raised Catholic, and my husband was raised Catholic but joined my church after we married in the Lutheran Church. My oldest was confirmed Lutheran and my middle child is going to be soon. I feel some angst over all of it. I'm thinking that maybe we should start going to church with my mil. She'd be overjoyed. I've enjoyed the masses I've attended in the past and think I would feel comfortable there.

 

Best wishes to you in figuring out what to do.

[Jlynn]

Just another vote to try out either LCMS or WELS...we're new to Lutheranism -at least kind of : ) have been Lutheran for about 3 years, so the two biggest differences for us were The Lord's Supper and Baptism. We would personally have a tough time going back to a non-denom or Presbyterian now due to the very huge place those two sacraments hold in the Lutheran teaching and the way the entire liturgy is Christ centered. Its so hard to change deonoms...hope it goes well for you!

Edited April 18, 2010 by Jlynn

[milovany]

We converted to the Orthodox church earlier this year and I will say we love it. We come from a background that does NOT include liturgical practices, though, and so this is a change for us ... a good one. We are quite pleased with the services and the structure of the Church; we also appreciate its history. For us it became a matter of not which church do we prefer but which church do we believe is the one that came straight out of the New Testament? We actually had a Baptist preacher advise us along those lines many years ago which is interesting now, looking back. Anyway, we couldn't not pick Orthodoxy if that makes sense. You can click my name "milovany" below for info. on the Orthodox church if it interests you at all.

 

Oh, and I will say I don't know much about conservative/liberal in this sense (although the two things I do know are that the church does not have gay clergy and they are pro-life). But what I was going to say is I know that some of my Facebook friends who are Orthodox have "conservative" where it says "political views" and some have "liberal." Anecdotal, but not very doctrinal or scientific! ;-)

 

P.S. There's a Discover Orthodox Christianity social group here at WTM if you want to ask any questions over there. Good luck on your search!

Edited April 19, 2010 by milovaný

[JoyfulMama]

My dh also grew up ELCA, and I joined an ELCA congregation with him a number of years ago. I am with you on recent changes to the ELCA, so much that I wouldn't consider the ELCA congregation here.

We moved, and I attended an Evangelical Presbyterian Church congregation, and liked that very much. We moved again, and I am now attending a United Methodist Church congregation. Of the two, I was more comfortable in the EPC than I am the UMC.

To me, moving the the LCMS was too much of a change, even though it is still Lutheran.

I remember sitting with the phone book open and the computer on in front of me, trying to determine what my options were. They can be mindboggling. Pray, and allow yourself to be led. I would never have considered the Presbyterian church, but for a recommendation from someone else (who didn't even go there).

[mom2abcd]

Another to suggest the LCMS. There are many varieties of congregations, all with the same basic doctrinal viewpoints. The church nearest you may be quite liturgical or quite contemporary in worship practices... or somewhere in between. Somewhere there is one that will feel like home to you. You can find congregations using the directory here:

 

http://www.lcms.org/ca/www/locators/nchurches/church.asp

[burleygirl]

My 2 cents - Why are you asking other people what denomination would you fit into? In the new testament, Jesus' blood purchased his church. Read about that church and find it.

[Laura Corin]

Laura

[Negin]

 

This 20-question quiz doesn't take very long and is interesting. :001_smile:

[EthiopianFood]

A more progressive Mennonite church. Are there nonbrethren around?