The Church Universal consists of all those who truly believe on Jesus Christ as Savior. The local congregation is an assembly of believers in a certain locality among whom the Gospel is purely taught and the sacraments are rightly administered. The confessing membership of the local congregation shall include only those who have been baptized into “the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” confess personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, maintain a good reputation in the community and accept the constitution of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. It cannot, however, be avoided that hypocrites might be mixed in the congregation; that is, those whose unbelief is not evident to the congregation.
  —Church of the Lutheran Brethren Doctrinal Statement of Faith, Paragraph I

Of the issues that led to the formation of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren in 1900, church membership was probably foremost. It was common at that time for children to be baptized into the church as infants, confirmed in the faith as teenagers, and welcomed to the Lord’s table and ushered into membership of the church without much regard for personal confession of faith (Levang, 1991, p. 103-104). Rev. K.O. Lundeberg was one of the founders of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. CLB historian J.H. Levang reports that earlier in his ministry, Lundeberg was concerned that corporate confession, public absolution, and open invitation to the Lord’s Supper were contrary to the Word of God (Levang, 1991, p. 105).