About Us
Welcome to Saint Stephen’s Evangelical Catholic Church! We are a frontline outreach ministry of the Very Lutheran Project.
Saint Stephen’s Evangelical Catholic Church (SSECC) is a visible assembly of the church militant. We honor Saint Stephen who was a deacon, and was the first recorded Christian martyr (besides Christ himself). He was stoned to death by Jews.
A church is evangelical if it holds to the beliefs of canonical Scripture as the norm for Christian doctrine and that salvation comes through faith alone in the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
A church is said to be catholic if it is universal, meaning that it subscribes to the three historic creeds that have defined the Church: the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed.
“Lutheran” was a pejorative term applied to the conservative reformers who sought a return to the true catholic faith without indulgences, penance, limbo, purgatory, ecclesiastical hierarchies, simony and other anti-scriptural innovations. Rather than eschew this description that was intended to mock the conservative reformers, we have historically embraced it. So don’t let the name of this assembly confuse you: we are unapologetic Lutherans and big fans of Martin Luther.
Where are we located?
St. Stephen's Evangelical Catholic Church has no permanent home, and meets in various locations, primarily in Southern New Hampshire, USA.
We are an invitation-only congregation, and if you accept an invitation from one of our members, you'll be provided with directions for the next assembly.
When do services occur?
Services generally occur on the last Saturday of the month, in the evening. During November and December, they occur on a Saturday in the middle of the month.
Our Clergy
All of our clergy (pastors, deacons and chaplains) undergo a colloquy process through which they are trained in the distinctive aspects of the Very Lutheran Project, the doctrines of the Church, Pietism, pastoral care, liturgy and sacramental practice in addition to formal training in ministry they have receive outside of the synod.
Our pastors, deacons and chaplains are exclusively male in perpetuity, and have an equal vote at the conventions of our synod, with the director of the synod being “first among equals.”
The Eucharist
We believe that the body and blood of Christ are truly present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. Christ’s body and blood are received in the Eucharist whether the recipient believes so or not. As such, to the believer, it is received to their benefit. But an unbeliever receives it to their harm.
Thus, in the interests of loving our neighbor, we practice “closed communion.” This means that only persons who have been baptized with water, and in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and who have further openly confessed the Apostles' Creed, and demonstrated an understanding of the Small Catechism, shall participate in the Holy Eucharist.
Our Beliefs
The Holy Scriptures, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, are infallible and inerrant in both the Old and New Testaments. As such they are the sole source and norm of faith and morals.
The Three Ecumenical Creeds, to wit, the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed are true expositions of essential elements of the universal Christian faith.
The Lutheran Confessions, as written and as accurately translated in the 1580 Book of Concord, and excluding any later editorial commentary, represent a true and authoritative explanation of the aspects of Scripture that they address. We adhere to these Confessions with a quia subscription, i.e. because they are faithful interpretations of Scripture.
We embrace Pietism, defined here as the Biblical emphasis on sanctification and the Third Use of the Law; we seek to build each other up in holiness and obedience to God's Commandments.
Any Pastor or Deacon may be questioned in good faith by a Christian regarding matters of doctrine and practice.
Scripture is complete, and anything that is sinful has been explicitly revealed to be such in Scripture. We invent no new sins, particularly when these newly created sins are obvious concessions to the anti-Christian powers of this world. Such sins include, but are by no means limited to the long list of modern “-isms” which are used to browbeat believers today, but are nowhere to be found in Scripture.
Jesus Christ revealed explicitly that He is the only path to the Father. The Old Covenant has been fulfilled, and the world now lives under the New Covenant wherein Christians are Biblical Israel, the children of Abraham and heirs to the Promise.