An Introduction to the Apostolic Lutherans

Operating in the world but not of the world

The family at a wedding.

The June sun is shining as strange words flow from old speakers all around us, words that very few of us understand until the minister pauses and a second minister translates the sermon into English. The man speaking to the congregation was flown in from Finland for this annual event. The church is overflowing and volunteer members had to act as parking attendants and direct vehicles into empty grass slots in neighboring fields. Cars parked on sides of the road stretch for a quarter mile in both directions. 

It’s a big deal. 

Almost all of my aunts and uncles are in attendance, along with dozens of cousins. My nine-year-old self is sitting on a blanket in the grass with my two younger brothers and a tiny sketch pad doodling as the congregation that couldn’t fit in the pews or fold-up chairs in the hall sit in the surrounding lawn and listen under shade-giving tents or, when that space has also run out, parents sit on camping chairs while their young kids sprawl on picnic blankets in the summer sun.

I would have loved to bring a Gameboy or Calvin and Hobbes comic, but that’s not allowed. We have to be quiet and can draw or play hangman with a pocket-sized pad of paper and pencil, or we can flick triangle footballs, but electronics and pre-made entertainment are frowned upon. 

We are Apostolic Lutherans in Upper Michigan.