What is Ask the Pastor?

  • Ask the Pastor is a page where you can email the Pastor of Blessed Savior and ask him theological questions about our one and only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
  • The Pastor will read the email and respond to you and include some of the questions and their answers below.
  • NOTE: Questions that are included on this page will remain anonymous.  

How To Email Him?

  • Click the link HERE to send an email to Pastor Roeglin
  • (Or navigate to your email account and send an email to pastor@blessedsavior-lcms.org)
  • Type Ask The Pastor in the Subject line
  • Then type your question (in the body of the email, not the subject line) and hit Send

Ask The Pastor Questions:

Q: I see on your website that your church is part of the LCMS. I grew up in a Lutheran Church.  I haven’t been attending recently as I have moved. I believe it is part of the ELCA.  Is there a difference? What do those letters stand for?   -H.F.

A:  Dear H.F.,
     Thank you for your question and for trying to figure out this rather confusing way things are among Lutherans in the U.S. today. There are really three large groups of Lutherans in America today and then a lot of little groups. The largest group is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).  It formed in the 1980's when three smaller groups of Lutherans merged. The second largest is the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). This is the group that Blessed Savior is part of (the word Synod means “walking together). The third group is the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). As I mentioned earlier, there are more groups, but those are the three biggest.
     As for the differences between the LCMS and the ELCA, let me first say that I will be comparing what these two church bodies teach, not what an individual person in these churches believes. I am not trying to judge anyone, just point out the differences. The differences between these two bodies stem from one main confession concerning God's Word. The LCMS teaches and confesses that the Holy Bible is the inspired, inerrant (no errors), Word of God from cover to cover. The ELCA teaches and confesses that the Bible contains the Word of God, but that it also contains human error and opinion in various places. This has led to differences in practices and beliefs between the Synods. For example, the LCMS has only male Pastors, the ELCA has Pastors of both genders.  
     Because of this big difference in how we view the Bible and how that effects our practices and beliefs, the LCMS (and therefore Blessed Savior) is not on fellowship with the ELCA. This means that we don’t commune at each other’s altars, and our Pastors don’t preach in each other’s pulpits. This is not to say that we at Blessed Savior think that members of an ELCA church are not Christians. It is just to acknowledge that we disagree on some important things and that until we have better agreement with one another on these things we are not in fellowship with one another.
     We would love to have you visit our church. Feel free to ask more questions about what we believe either in person or here in this Ask the Pastor.
     Here is a link to our communion statement for further information: 

https://www.blessedsavior-lcms.org/communion/

God Bless,
Pastor Roeglin