TheApostolic Lutheran Church of America (ALCA) is aLaestadianLutheranchurch denomination established byFinnish American and Norwegian immigrants in the 1800s. They came mainly from northernFinland and northernNorway where they had been members of the state churches. Most or all members had ties from their home countries to theLaestadian revival movement named afterSwedish state church administrator and pastorLars Levi Laestadius ofPajala,Sweden. Eventually, there were too many arguments between this denomination and the other AmericanLaestadians, and some of the followers of Laestadius were excluded from the sacrament of holy communion. Under the lead of Salomon Korteniemi, the excluded members formed a congregation of their own in December 1872, under the name theSalomon Korteniemi Lutheran Society. In 1879 this name was changed to theFinnish Apostolic Lutheran Congregation. As other congregations of Finns inMassachusetts,Michigan,Minnesota, andOregon were organized on the same basis, they came into fellowship with this body under the name theFinnish Apostolic Lutheran Church, or, as it is usually called, the Apostolic Lutheran Church.

The ALCA Laestadians are called "Mickelsens" by other Laestadians, after 20th Century leader Reverend Andrew Mickelsen (1897-1983).^{[citation needed]} The organization is also referred to by members and non-members as the Federation.

In 2009, membership in the denomination was estimated to include 6,000 baptized members.^[1] Its ministers are mostly lay preachers.^[2] It has sizable congregations inMichigan,Minnesota,Washington,New Hampshire and in various other countries, such asCanada andFinland. The national organization is governed by an elected board (the Central Board) which meets regularly at various locations across the United States andCanada, and individual member churches are governed by elected boards. The ALCA has no central headquarters facility.

Though historically a lay movement, a seminary education is becoming more common amongst Apostolic Lutheran pastors. The majority of seminary-instructed pastors receive their education from the Inter-Lutheran Theological Seminary inHancock, Michigan.

The ALCA narrowly follows the doctrines and practices ofLaestadianism. For example, it emphasizes the necessity of regeneration and the practical importance of absolution fromsin. It follows the Laestadian-specific doctrine of theaudible declaration of forgiveness of sins and encourages avoidance of worldliness and sin. Unlike the two larger branches of Laestadianism, the ALCA does not teach that it is theonly true Laestadian group.

Liturgically, the church accepts the creeds of the EvangelicalLutheran church.

The majority of the written doctrine of the Apostolic Lutheran Church is based onLuther's Small Catechism, a collection ofMartin Luther's teachings.

• Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor. 6th Ed., 1999. pp 93–94.

• Official Website
• Sermons of Laestadius

This article relating toLutheranism is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information.

• v
• t
• e

• Laestadianism
• Lutheran denominations in North America
• Religious organizations established in 1872
• Lutheran denominations established in the 19th century
• Finnish-American history
• Sámi-American history
• 1872 establishments in the United States
• Lutheranism stubs

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from June 2021
• All stub articles