"Evangelical" explanation by Pr. Bob via Christa

Christa,

Evangelical is for Lutherans -and for Luther- preferable to the word Lutheran. Luther said 'How can we name a church after a bag of maggots like me?' I think Evangelical would continue to be part of our name, but probably not our first name. We are all, with 12,000 other congregations part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. There is only one church that I have ever heard of that is simply named Evanglical Lutheran Church, the one in Postenkill, not far from us. Thus, it becomes awkward to describe it as Evangelical Evangelical Lutheran Church. 

Also, the word Evangelical has been used by a large segment of conservative protestants to describe their movement. Many of them do not consider Lutherans to be evangelical enough, meaning a strict, conservative, often politically conservative church that expects people to 'make a decision for Christ.' Lutherans, who have used the name since the 16th century, have a theology of Grace that would better say that God has chosen us, rather than that we have chosen to follow him. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America boldly chose to claim the word again in it's name in 1987 when our new church was constituted. We together spend a lot of time and energy trying to to clarify what WE mean by Evangelical. Luther preferred it because it means we are 'of the Gospel'. Some Lutherans would say, we did not form a new church at the time of the Reformation. We claim with most other Christians that we 'believe in the ONE, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. Lutherans claim to be part of that one church, but we do it with a radical commitment to the Gospel, the evangel.

Sorry for the long response. I would wish that the word Evangelical be part of our name, but we have a 'first name' that describes this particular congregation of Evangelical Lutherans. 

You are probably aware that 'Lutheran' is not necessarily the name that is used to describe the Lutherans in Germany. It is the EKID. Evangelishe -pardon my German spelling - Kirche in Deutchland. Most Lutherans in other countries call themselves 'The Evangelical Lutheran Chuch in ______. In 1987 we decided to do that in naming our newly merged church. Thus we are known like the Germans with a church named with four letters: ELCA. 

Pr.Bob