LCC brings greetings to North American Lutheran Church Convocation

Vice-President Astley greets the NALC Convocation.

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania – The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) held its annual Convocation and Theological Conference August 6-9 in Pittsburgh. Lutheran Church–Canada’s (LCC) First Vice-President Nolan Astley attended the event, bringing with him a letter from President Robert Bugbee. President Bugbee was unable to attend as he was participating in International Lutheran Council business in Lithuania.

Vice-President Astley greeted the assembly the morning of August 9, at which time he read President Bugbee’s letter to the convocation. “As a participant in the semi-annual dialogues which involve your NALC, the Missouri Synod, and our Lutheran Church–Canada,” President Bugbee wrote, “I’ve been able to develop deepening friendships and trust with leaders of your church, whom I have come to respect and love in the Lord Christ.” He continued: “In the past year we have discovered a profound level of consensus in our understanding of Holy Scripture as the source and norm for Christian teaching and life.”

“We are certainly not of one mind on every question,” he noted. “However, under God, we’ve come to the point where we can say what we have to say in the confidence that we will be respectfully and lovingly heard on every side.”

He further reflected on the knowledge that “the Lord has His way of bringing good out of the bad.” “You dear people endured more than your share of pain in controversies that were not just disagreements over human sexuality,” President Bugbee wrote, “but which ultimately touch on the nature of the Gospel itself and the basic mission of the Christian Church in the world. The bad that you had to experience, however, ended up creating a real door of opportunity for Lutherans who had been distant from one another to find their way to genuine talking and listening again.” Read President Bugbee’s full letter here.

“Lutheran Church–Canada has been marvelous in their support,” said the NALC’s Bishop John Bradosky, following Vice-President Astley’s remarks. He expressed thanks to LCC for inviting NALC youth to participate in July’s National Youth Gathering. He also thanked LCC for accommodating NALC needs “in areas where it would have taken us much longer” (LCC has opened its Worker Benefits Plan to allow NALC members to participate). “We thank God for that kind of hospitality and faithful partnership,” Bishop Bradosky concluded.

Among other business, the NALC Convocation included planning for a new Seminary Center at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. For more information on the convocation’s business, visit the NALC’s website here.

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