The AALC began with 12 congregations and has, as of 2007, grown to 78 congregations spread across 23 states. The AALC sees itself in the conservative middle of Lutheranism in the United States. At its beginning, TAALC defined itself by its opposition to the theology of the ELCA, and became a home to Orthodox, Evangelical, and Charismatic Lutherans. At one point the three strands were unofficially described as being a three fold cord, (Ec 4:12). This approach was never formal policy, but occurred because this new church body did not have a broad corpus of doctrinal writings and historical precedent to rely upon.