The Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) is an international conference of Confessional Lutheran national churches. The CELC is headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Founded in 1993 with thirteen church bodies as members, the Conference has grown to twenty members today. Plenary sessions are held every three years. To date there have been seven plenary meetings (1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011), with regional meetings held in the intervening years.
The organization rejects the 1999 Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church.
Member church bodies confess "the canonical books of the Old and New Testament as the verbally inspired and inerrant Word of God and submit to this Word of God as the only infallible rule and authority in all matters of doctrine, faith, and life." They also accept "the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church contained in the Book of Concord of 1580, not in so far as, but because they are a correct exposition of the pure doctrine of the Word of God."
Members cannot be in fellowship with church bodies whose doctrine or practice deviate from the confessional standard of the CELC.
Member church bodies sorted by country in alphabetical order:
AlbaniaConfessional Evangelical Lutheran Church of Albania (Associate Member)
AustraliaEvangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia
BulgariaBulgarian Lutheran Church
CameroonLutheran Church of Cameroon
CanadaWELS-Canada (Part of
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod)
ChileChristian Church of the Lutheran Reformation (Associate Member)
Czech RepublicCzech Evangelical Lutheran Church
FinlandEvangelical Lutheran Confessional ChurchSt. John's Lutheran Congregation in Finland (Associate Member)
GermanyEvangelical Lutheran Free ChurchIndiaConfessional Evangelical Lutheran Ministries--India (Associate Member)Lutheran Mission of Salvation India (Associate Member)
IndonesiaGeraja Lutheran Indonesia
JapanLutheran Evangelical Christian Church
KoreaEast Seoul Canaan Church (Associate Member)
LatviaConfessional Lutheran Church in Latvia
MalawiLutheran Church of Central AfricaMexicoConfessional Evangelical Lutheran Church
NigeriaChrist the King Lutheran ChurchAll Saints Lutheran Church of Nigeria
NorwayLutheran Confessional ChurchPeruEvangelical Lutheran Synod
PortugalLutheran Church of Portugal (Associate member)
Puerto RicoEvangelical
Lutheran Confessional ChurchRussiaEvangelical Lutheran Church - "Concord"
South KoreaEast Seoul Canaan Church
SwedenLutheran Confessional Church
UkraineUkrainian Lutheran ChurchUnited States of AmericaEvangelical Lutheran SynodWisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
ZambiaLutheran Church of Central Africa
