Yes, I am a member of a Lutheran congregation. Back in 2007, after years of prayer, discussion, and debate we made a unanimous decision to disassociate ourselves from the ELCA. Our disagreement was in what we identified as a lack of leadership with regard to topics such as sexual promiscuity, sex outside of marriage, homosexual activity, and universal reconciliation. We felt the tide moving stronger in those directions and that we exhausted our efforts so it was time to shake the dust off our sandals so-to-speak.
When we made this decision we also determined that we would not want to remain forever independent and now we have come to a place where we are trying to decide on a direction for our congregation.
This past weekend we voted to join the Lutheran Churches in Mission for Christ (LCMC). This is basically an association of independent Lutheran churches and by being a member we have access to resources for pastoral call, teaching, missions, and so on but the LCMC has no governing authority over the individual congregations as many denominations have.
It was also brought up for discussion whether or not we should consider becoming a part of a governing denomination and the AFLC and NALC were both mentioned. So, as our church council chair and for my own sake, I am trying to be diligent and learn about what these two denominations stand for above and beyond their broad doctrinal statements and statements of faith.