The Common Confession was meant to draw traditional Lutherans together from across the country under a single statement of faith and purpose. Whether we describe ourselves as orthodox, confessional, evangelical — or perhaps simply as old school Lutherans — we represent the broad center of the Lutheran tradition in the ELCA.

We are coming together, as it were, under one “Big Tent”— our faith statement: the Common Confession. We are not building a new structure or institution, but are gathering around shared faith perspective. The metaphor of the Big Tent is one of flexibility and activity, to provide a common place to work together in the reform and renewal of the Church.

As you can see from the diagram at right, the Lutheran Churches of the Common Confession (LC3) and Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) are simply two halves of the same movement. Welcomed into this mutual effort are congregations, individuals, and the many Lutheran reform groups already doing good work in service to the Church. In particular, LC3 intends to work with congregations on the local level with a focus on mission and ministry, while the Lutheran CORE intends to work more on the synodical and national level, working within the governing system of the ELCA to bring about reform.