It is my understanding that some of these E and R's were served by Lutheran clergy and did even tually move into membership in Lutheran bodies. At least in Pennsylvania. Pr. John Dornheim
Yes, this is probably true. As recently as 1985, I knew of a United Church of Christ congregation in New York City that considered itself Lutheran and even used the Lutheran Book of Worship (the congregation probably still exists). I also have heard of a group within the UCC whose purpose was to promote Lutheran theology within the denomination, though this group may no longer be in existence. Many immigrants that came from the Prussian Evangelical Union and founded congregations in the U.S. would have considered themselves Lutheran and would have looked for Lutheran clergy to serve them ("evangelisch" simply means protestant in Germany). Denominational lines were also often blurred due to the influences of Pietism, Rationalism and Liberalism. In Pennsylvania, the Reformed (German Calvinists) and Lutherans lived very closely, many times sharing the same church building or even forming true union congregations. I know at the time of the ELCA merger there were still a few congregations in Pennsylvania that held dual memberships in the Lutheran Church of America and the United Church of Christ. These congregations were given a timeline in which choose the ELCA or the UCC, as the ELCA was not going to allow these dual memberships. Ironically enough, of course, now the ELCA and the UCC are in full communion, which makes such situations possible again. > From: John Dornheim <john19@unidial.com> > Organization: http://www.luther95.org/SLELC-DMD/ > Reply-To: john19@unidial.com > Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 09:42:22 -0500 > To: LUTHERAN-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [LUTH-ROOTS] Introduction > Resent-From: LUTHERAN-ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com > Resent-Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2000 06:41:33 -0800 > > It is my understanding that some of these E and R's were served by > Lutheran clergy and did even tually move into membership in Lutheran > bodies. At least in Pennsylvania. > > Pr. John Dornheim > >