Light in the Darkness—Emerging Lutheran Churches in Africa and Asia

“[I]n the case of Christianity [membership] is declining fairly rapidly”, a correspondent to the Adelaide Sunday Mail wrote recently (April 30, 2006, p 73). He must have been thinking only of Christianity in Australia, or perhaps Christianity as powerful forces in the media would like people to regard it. Philip Jenkins, professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University, has given quite a different assessment. He has written that, “Christianity as a whole is both growing and mutating in ways that observers in the West tend not to see. … Within the next twenty-five years the population of the world’s Christians is expected to grow to 2.6 billion (making Christianity by far the world’s largest faith). By 2025, 50 percent of the Christian population will be in Africa and Latin America, and another 17 percent will be in Asia. Those proportions will grow steadily.” [Philip Jenkins, “The Next Christianity”, The Atlantic Monthly (October 2002) 54-56]

Africa

The growth that Jenkins has written about is being shared by Lutheran churches in many parts of Africa and Asia. In some African countries Lutheran churches have existed for over 100 years. Some are large, for example the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (615,000 members in 1,612 congregations and preaching stations) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (over 2.5m members). Many are small, yet are experiencing significant growth. The Lutheran Church in Southern Africa has only 35,000 members in 255 congregations and preaching places. Yet its seminary in Pretoria, Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane, received 20 new applications from prospective students for 2006, boosting its numbers for this year to 40 students spread over a five-year course. [LTS News, 5:5 (September 2005) 8; see http://lts.org.za/newsletter/, home page www.lts.co.za]

After the Fourth International Confessional Lutheran Conference in Matongo, Kenya, in February 2004, Dr Reijo Arkkila wrote,

The Lutheran church is growing fast in many parts of Africa. The participants from different parts of Africa brought greetings and also invitation to common work in their countries. Bishop Ndaye Mbwanya (Congo-Kinshasa) told that in his country it is peaceful now and his church calls missionaries to come. In the same way Bishop Kaliisa (Rwanda) told that his church is growing rapidly and needs all kind of support. A special thing at Matongo IV was the great number of participants from Uganda. There were ten representatives from two Lutheran Churches in Uganda and an additional two representatives from the border-area.

[Dean M Apel and Reijo Arkkila, eds, The Three Witnesses, (Sondu: Matongo Lutheran Theological College, 2004) 140]

(The seminary at Matongo in Western Kenya was begun in 1977 with Reijo Arkkila as the first principal, along with teachers from Norway, Kenya and Finland. [Reijo Arkkila, The Wounds and Blood of Jesus, (Vantaa: Sley-Kirjat, 2004) 23,72])

One of the two Lutheran Churches in Uganda referred to above is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Uganda, begun as a mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania in 1991. In 1997 it had 2,364 members [http://www.elct.org/mission.html] though this figure is no doubt much larger now.

The other is the Lutheran Church in Uganda, whose beginnings have been documented briefly by Nelson Zweck in Lutheran Men, December 2005, pp 3,4. A four-year dispute from 1992-1996 over the leadership of the Anglican Church of Uganda resulted in many people joining other churches. A few people who began to study the history of the Anglican church turned to Dr Tom Tuma, an Anglican lecturer in church history. He spoke about the reformation that had given birth to the Lutheran church, describing it as “the first bible centred protestant church”. The nearest Lutheran church that Dr Tuma could point the group to was in Kenya.

Three laymen and two women from this group determined to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a Lutheran church in Uganda. They journeyed to Nairobi in Kenya where they invited the Lutheran church there to come into Uganda. The Kenyans, however, did not have the manpower to spare. The best they could offer was co-operation in ministry along the Kenya-Uganda border. This was a setback to these intrepid pioneer would be Lutherans. However, they persisted and on their third trip to Kenya by chance one man met a seminary student attending a[t] Nairobi university. The seminary student was a Lutheran from Ghana. The case for aid from the Ghana Lutheran Church was implored and the student, now Rev Gyampadu, pledged that he would speak to his president about their case. In a swift response, the Ghana church then sent Rev Gyampadu to Uganda in July 1993 to assess the possibility of establishing a Lutheran mission in Uganda. The report was positive, already much groundwork had been done, and by September 1994 the Ghana Lutheran Church had sent two missionaries to initiate the formal establishment of the Lutheran Church of Uganda.

So zealous were they who comprised this initial group of five, that by this time, September 1994, 30 mission stations had already been established, so when the Ghana pastors arrived they were able to preside over a workshop attended by over 200 would-be Lutherans in October 1994. The implied task of these missionaries was to educate members on ‘what it meant to be Lutheran’! Among the topics at the workshop were, church history and Lutheranism, Lutheran worship, Lutheran doctrine and practice, and the difference between the Lutheran church and other faiths. And so in Jinja, on Reformation Sunday 1994, the first Lutheran church service was conducted with Rev Gyampadu and Rev Donkoh from Ghana officiating.

Today there are 20 established congregations and as many mission stations (or preaching places) and over 15,000 members.

No less impressive has been the birth and growth of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan. Its founder, Andrew Mbugo Elisa, originally had a prominent position in the public relations department of the World Council of Churches. Unhappy with the WCC and the Anglican Church, he remembered what he had learnt about Martin Luther in a European history class at university. He has said, “I’d started to consider which church could give me the best teachings … Martin Luther was a key fellow who made a Christian decision to change things when they were going wrong. When you are in a church with these kinds of frustrations, you recall this lesson”. [http://www.lhfmissions.org/News/sud-birthelcs.htm]

Andrew started a Lutheran congregation with his friends in Juba, South Sudan, in November 1993 and another congregation in Khartoum in early 1994 [Arkilla, 61]. He studied Lutheran theology in Nairobi, did a year of specialised theological training at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and was ordained in a colourful and lengthy ceremony on 29 August 1999.

The ELCS comprised a group of seven congregations with a total membership of over 1,000 in 1999. By early 2005 those figures had reached 61 congregations with over 10,000 members. ELCS started its own Concordia Lutheran Institute for the Holy Ministry in Khartoum in the autumn of 2000. Teachers from the US and Finland have taught there. Three men were ordained into the holy ministry in November 2003 and the first class of deaconesses and deacons also graduated that year [The Word at Work, 10:3 (August 2003) 3]. Another six men were ordained in July 2005, bringing the total number of pastors to 11.

Asia

Since at least before the turn of the twentieth century, German Lutherans lived in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. These Germans had formerly lived in the Volga region of Russia. After the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the German government offered ethnic Germans the opportunity to apply for visas to immigrate to Germany. Of 100,000 Germans in the Kyrgyz Republic in 1991, fewer than 10,000 remained in 2005. The number of German Lutheran Churches and Houses of Prayer dropped from 58 to about 30, with fewer than 500 people attending worship services. The German Lutheran congregations joined the Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Kyrgyzstan (SELCK).

Tim Nickel, a missionary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) in Kyrgyzstan, has written that for at least ten years there was only one ordained pastor in the synod, who was the Propst and later became the bishop. Another pastor who had immigrated to Germany returned as a missionary to Kyrgyzstan and is now bishop of the synod. It seemed as if one of the purposes of the German congregations was to preserve the German language so that people could learn enough German to be accepted for emigration to Germany. However, as it was an old type of German, many had difficulty conversing with modern Germans. After the number of German Lutherans dwindled severely and emigration became more difficult, the synod began to use the Russian language in the majority of its meetings. Now most of the congregations conduct their services in the Russian language. This has begun to attract Russians to the congregations, so that the synod is growing again.

SELCK is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of Russia and Other States (ELKROS), whose headquarters are in St Petersburg. Under ELKROS, SELCK operates a seminary in Bishkek for training deacons and pastors.

In 1998 the LCMS through its Mission Board and World Missions department sent two pastors and their wives to Kyrgyzstan to begin a new mission. They have specifically targeted Kyrgyz people who have a Muslim background. In the words of Tim Nickel, “To be Kyrgyz is to be Muslim, but it is doubtful that even one percent of the Kyrgyz people practice their faith or even go to mosque on holy days”. [Tim Nickel, “Lutheranism in Kyrgyzstan”, Logia XV:1 (Epiphany 2006) 33].

Through a Mobile Medical Trailer that has provided free medical and dental care in the villages of Kyrgyzstan and through various other projects such as English-as-a-Second-Language volunteer teaching, a group of believers formed in the capital city of Bishkek. They successfully registered with the government as the Lutheran Church—Concordia, with the right to evangelise and plant churches throughout the Kyrgyz Republic.

By the middle of 2005, twenty-six groups had been formed that meet regularly for worship and/or Bible study. They include seven mission congregations, ten preaching stations, and nine cell groups. Seventeen churches meet for Divine Services and the other nine are being taught the Bible and the Catechism in order to become new congregations. … At least 750 adults and children attend church, Bible study, and Sunday School weekly.

Theological education is presented by the missionaries and volunteer pastors from America to the seventeen men currently studying for the pastoral ministry. One pastor was ordained in 2004, and every succeeding year will see more candidates for ordination. All of the pastoral students work in the churches preaching and teaching on a regular basis. The students travel to Bishkek three days a week for seminary classes, and serve in the various city and village locations during the rest of the week. Local lay evangelists are also trained to evangelize and teach in new villages through various evangelistic, medical, and social ministries. [Nickel, 34].

There is a good relationship between the two synods.

SELCK is generally more conservative and confessional than its counterpart in ELKROS. The relationship between SELCK and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is very friendly and cooperative. The attitude of both groups toward the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions is similar, and both have the desire to fulfill the Great Commission in Kyrgyzstan. [Nickel, 33]

Kazakhstan provides a similar story. LCMS sent missionaries there in 1994 and also began humanitarian aid programs. Books and other resources were produced in the Russian and Kazakh languages for use in outreach, Bible study and theological education. Three congregations formed the Evangelical Lutheran Centre (ELC) and registered with the government in February 1998. The People of God Evangelical Lutheran Seminary was opened in April 1998 to provide a two-year course of study for men to become deacons. Congregations in the Almaty area use the Russian language, while there is outreach in various villages using the Kazakh language. Broadcasting of the Lutheran Hour in Russian has resulted in connections with 23 groups of Christians around Kazakhstan, and attempts are being made to draw them into the ELC. Currently the communicant membership of the seven ELC congregations is around 300. [Amy Kashenov, David Baker, Kim Acton, Morris Olson, Armand J Boehme, “Lutheranism in Kazakhstan, Central Asia”, Logia XV:1 (Epiphany 2006) 29,30]

Another country that to us seems just as remote is Mongolia. Asia Focus, that gives many interesting examples of work being done by Lutheran Churches in South East Asia, includes a report on Mongolia in the March 2006 issue. [Asia Focus, PO Box 911, Gympie, Q 4570; editor@asiafocus.org.au] Like Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia was also once under a Communist dictatorship. The first Christian missionaries came to Mongolia in 1990. Lutheran work began in 1994 through the Norwegian Lutheran Mission. With the support of the Mission and after learning more about the Lutheran Church in Singapore, Purevdorj Jamsran (Puje) Chinggis started the first Lutheran congregation in the capital Ulaanbaatar in 1995. There are now three congregations, a preaching place in a remote region and another congregation and two home groups begun by the Finnish Overseas Lutheran Mission. Pastor Puje, a poet and songwriter, is also Dean of the interdenominational Union Bible Training Centre, the only internationally accredited theological college in the country.

Asia Focus reports:

Traditionally Mongolians are Buddhists (of the Tibetan type) but years of Communist oppression produced a secular, corrupt and impoverished society, with people longing for light and salvation.

Pastor Puje’s church and his Bible Training Centre are keenly evangelistic. Hopes are to spread the Gospel from Mongolia to Siberia and North Korea—the last hidden, forbidden society on earth! The many millions of Christians of South Korea have no chance of doing this but Mongolia may just become the launching pad for this exciting, so far near-impossible endeavour. [Asia Focus, No.11 (March 2006) 1, 5]

Asia Focus is especially interested in countries close to us such as Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand. It has regular reports on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thailand (ELCT), a small church with a membership of 2,500. ELCT is made up mostly of first generation Christians. If the fields before us don’t seem white for harvest, it’s only because we haven’t lifted our eyes high enough. One area the ELCT is working in is in the north of the country, among the Lua people who have come back across the mountains from Laos. According to Asia Focus they are animists of sorts, yet very welcoming and open to the Gospel of Christ. Some 400 Lua have been baptised in four years. [Asia Focus, No.7 (June 2005) 3] Among the Lua people, “prayer is in the air”.

Praying is everywhere—the number one responsibility of an evangelist here. They pray with the people day and night, in the open, in their huts, and in great numbers after church.

Indeed, after the service the preacher can’t simply pack his bag and go home but has to keep praying for his people. They line up or kneel down individually or in small groups, 30 or 40, that is. They wait until someone has personally prayed for them. They are like Jacob saying to God, “I won’t let you go, until you bless me.”

The people at worship here in Na Pong settlement had come from five different villages. Some had come from Houay Mee Village, 3 hours walk, others from Houay Tone, 4 hours walk. The latter had left at 6am in the morning to arrive in time for worship at 10am—four hours on the road to church! The Houay Tone folks have been begging for an evangelist to come to their village and share the Gospel. Only two families are Christian right now but the whole village would welcome them! [Asia Focus, No.11 (March 2006) 8]

Lutheran Heritage Foundation

A question that needs to be asked is, how Lutheran are some of the Lutheran churches of Africa and Asia? In many cases their clergy have been trained in inter-denominational seminaries. Such a question is not intended to cast doubt on the strong faith of the members of any church that uses the name Lutheran. It does not dispute their membership in the body of Christ. It merely asks whether Lutheran Churches in fact live up to their name in their worship, teaching and service.

A positive Lutheran influence on the world scene, since being founded by Dr Robert Rahn on 10 November, 1992, has been the Lutheran Heritage Foundation (LHF). The mission of LHF is to translate, publish and distribute Lutheran confessional books and materials. LHF has been especially active in Russia and Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. It has already produced over 323 publications in 45 languages, with more underway. A list of publications may be viewed at http://www.lhfmissions.org/Publ/PublSearch.asp. One of the first books LHF begins on in any given language is Luther’s Small Catechism, or the Small Catechism with explanation. For example, in South Africa the Augsburg Confession, the Apology, the Epitome and As the Word of the Lord Grows (a study of the origin, purpose, and meaning of the New Testament) have been completed in Setswana. Currently, work is continuing on a revision of the Large Catechism (which was first published in Setswana in 1982), the Solid Declaration, and the Smalcald Articles. Several projects in the Zulu and Afrikaans languages are also being considered. (See http://www.lhfmissions.org/News/SA-shortage.htm)

Often, LHF does more than provide printed materials to a church body. At LHF headquarters in Nairobi, Dr Anssi Simojoki, LHF Director for Africa and Central Asia, also gives a lot of valuable teaching. It was he who taught the Augsburg Confession to Andrew Mbugo Elisa in the mid-1990s. He has taught the Catechism to men from the Lutheran Church in Rwanda. Last year, 15 Somalis smuggled themselves across the border into Kenya and found the LHF compound, where they were baptised and were taught for two weeks. (During the Somali civil war all Christians in Somalia were systematically killed by Al Qaida.) LHF’s Somalian translator is Muhammed Gurhan. His four children were kidnapped a year ago. However, exceptionally heavy rain across Somalia stopped the vehicle in which his children were being driven. Gurhan edits the website www.somalilutheran.org that is in English and Somali. It advertises Christian books, including Gurhan’s translation of Luther’s Small Catechism. It highlights the plight of Somali Christians, whose lives are constantly in danger. It gives details about recent martyrs. Muhammad Gurhan himself has been repeatedly threatened. He was told last September that because he hasn’t closed the website, he is at the top of Al Qaida’s list. The LHF compound is now on a 24 hour security alert. Dr Anssi Simojoki quotes Gurhan as saying, “I want to become a Lutheran pastor, establish a Lutheran church in my country, and then they will come and kill me. I know my life will end this way, but I am prepared for that.” [LHF staff meeting notes, February 2006]

Like Dr Simojoki in Nairobi, Pastor Ted Na Thalang is LHF Director for South East Asia. He has also taught the Catechism to people who don’t know it. When he first went to Cambodia for a meeting with church leaders, none of them knew what a ‘Lutheran’ is. He showed them a copy of the Catechism in English, and when he returned after three months, was asked if LHF could translate it into Khmer. In October 2004 he conducted a seminar in Phnom Phenh to introduce the Catechism. Instead of an expected 41 leaders, over 60 attended. Twelve pastors representing some 2,000 people attended a second seminar in October 2005. One man who had started a church by simply sharing the Gospel made it known that he hadn’t been baptised. Pastor Na Thalang was the one who then baptised him.

In Thailand, at the time when there were only 300 Lutherans in the entire country, LHF published its first edition of the Thai catechism (2,000 copies). It was expected that they would be sufficient for 5 years. Instead they were sold out in 18 months. Of a second edition, about 5,000 copies, only 400 were left as of February 2006. Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, even Catholics are asking for the book. Ted Na Thalang’s goal is that by the year 2017, all the countries of South East Asia will have the Book of Concord in their own languages. [LHF staff meeting notes, February 2006]

In early 2005, 3,000 copies of Luther’s Small Catechism were published in Bahasa Indonesian. Pastor Na Thalang reports that the response was overwhelming.

Christian church leaders in Jakarta have already claimed 1,500 copies. Three hundred more have been given to Lutheran churches on Nias Island and Aceh (places that were hard-hit by the tsunami and earthquake), and LCMS missionaries requested another 200 copies for church leaders they know.

Pastors of all denominations are excited by the book. “Church leaders of all backgrounds – Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals – asked if they could buy Small Catechisms for their pastors. They have nothing like it,” Rev. NaThalang said. “This quality of material is something that is hard to find. This is a great gift for them.”

Excitement for the catechism is spreading. At the end of his trip, the largest synod in Indonesia (with about 3.5 million members) asked Rev. NaThalang if LHF could provide 1,500 Small Catechisms at its national convention in August. A second printing will be required to meet this request. Rev. NaThalang will have the opportunity to make a brief presentation about LHF and the Catechism to their pastors. [http://www.lhfmissions.org/News/ind-RecCatechism.htm Also see http://www.lhfmissions.org/News/sea-smcat.htm]

Theological Leadership for the West

Evangelistic zeal and examples of courage in the face of poverty and persecution on the part of Lutherans in Africa and Asia are of great encouragement to us in the West. Recent years have also seen two examples of theological leadership that deserve special mention. The one is the Bukoba Statement issued by the Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania in February 2004. The second part of the statement expresses concern about globalisation and its effects. The main concern here is with the effect of globalisation on the economy and on Tanzanian culture. Although concerns about morality are mentioned as well (in particular the detrimental effect of access to internet pornography), this is not a theological statement.

The third part is theological and is also highly significant. Headed ‘Human Sexuality’, it addresses the issue of homosexuality, while affirming the goodness of marriage as God established it. It begins by asserting that Holy Scripture, inspired by God, “is the solid foundation for the faith and life of every Christian”. It goes on to affirm, on the basis of 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and Rom. 1:26-27, that “homosexual acts and sodomy are condemned by Holy Scripture because they go against God’s plan”. Man and woman were created to complement each other, also “for the purpose of … continued creation”. Since homosexual acts are “against natural order” and God’s creation, people with homosexual inclinations or orientations “need teaching, counseling and pastoral care that leads to repentance and restoration”.

Paragraph four objects to the legalisation of same sex marriage. It addresses not only the Tanzanian state. At the close of this paragraph it also admonishes “all human communities in the world that to endorse, legalize or encourage homosexual acts in any form is to reject natural ethical codes that humanize society. It is thus to violate God’s Creation.” Likewise, in the church, homosexuals are not to be ordained into the ministry of Word and Sacrament, or take on any other official position. “Instead we call upon the church worldwide to sympathize with them, pray for them and counsel them how to be transformed in their thoughts and intentions.”

Finally, the bishops are aware of theologians who “misuse Holy Scripture to support and endorse homosexuality”. They reject such biblical expositions and state, “The Bible is the foundation of Christian faith and thus the church has an indisputable authority to rightly and scripturally explain faith based on God’s word”. This statement will be highly significant for future debates among Lutherans on homosexuality, especially within the LWF. (See attachment for the full statement.)

The second example of theological leadership comes from Bishop Walter Obare of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. He came to the aid of the Mission Province in the Church of Sweden by consecrating a bishop for the Province on 5 February 2005. The Mission Province was begun by the faithful in Sweden who are determined to uphold the teaching of the Lutheran Church and proclaim the Gospel. A document giving reasons for the establishment of the Mission Province says, “Many priests are no longer proclaiming the faith of the apostles. The liturgical life of the Church is often empty. The Bible is no longer seen as the Word of God and the highest authority in the church. Biblical ethics are abandoned for modern norms. For many Christians it is now impossible to worship in a congregation with orthodox teaching.” Nor could theological graduates be ordained as priests or deacons, if they would not work together with women priests. [http://www.missionsprovinsen.se/engelsk/about_the_mission_province.htm] A further example of decay in the Church of Sweden is the resolution passed by a nearly 2-1 vote at the Church Assembly last October, that approved the adoption of a formal church rite for the blessing of homosexual partnerships. All the bishops supported the recommendation.

As a way out of the impasse facing faithful Lutherans in Sweden, it was decided to ask Bishop Obare to consecrate bishops for the Mission Province. Correspondence between Archbishop Hammar of Sweden, asking Presiding Bishop Obare to change his plans, may be viewed at http://www.missionsprovinsen.se/engelsk/documents.htm

Bishop Obare’s lengthy, strongly worded and respectful reply concludes in this way:

For this reason, I write this serious and cordial appeal to you, my most Reverend and Illustrious Colleague! Because of Christian Love I do this in deepest humility. However, demanded by the biblical and Lutheran truth, I want to be as straight forward and candid as necessary. Hence, I ask you to do what must be considered as an absolute minimum in a church, namely to protect those who faithfully obey the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions for Christ, I earnestly appeal to you, that you would remove all the obstacles imposed on the above mentioned ordinations and to do this with your own example as an ordaining Bishop and as true Shepherd and Courageous Primate of your Church.

Otherwise, I must with other Lutheran bishops take upon myself the heavy and historic burden to heed the call of oppressed Lutheranism in your Church and to ordain bishops and pastors in the Church of Sweden on the basis of emergency legitimacy set forth in the Lutheran Confessions. As Lutherans we must also understand that this kind of calling comes from the Head of the Church himself. Who dares disobey him?

The consecration of Arne Olsson took place at Götteborg on 5 February, 2005. Bishop Obare was assisted by bishops Leonid Zviki from Belarus, David Tswaedi from South Africa, and Børre Knudsen and Ulf Asp from Norway.

In his stirring address given at the ordination service, Bishop Obare began by asking, “Why are we here today?” His answer came in four parts, “1. We are here demanded by … Christian love and solidarity. 2. We are here because of the Word of God. 3. We are here because of the Lutheran Confessions. 4. We are here because of church polity and judicature. The entire address may be viewed at http://www.missionsprovinsen.se/engelsk/obares_hogtidstal_en.htm

I give the first part here:

1. We are here demanded by the Christian love and solidarity. Time and time again, the motivation for my resolution to come over and help Lutheran Christians in Sweden and Finland has been expressed in the words of St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, concerning the well-being of the mystical body of Christ, the church, "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it" (1 Cor. 12:26). This was also my Biblical reply to the letter of the Primate of the Lutheran Church of Sweden a full year ago, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” My decision to take this step has not been an easy one. I have struggled with this call. But a call it is, a call from God. I did not make my decision lightly. How many times have I been tempted to listen to well-meaning advice not to come here! I have received an abundance of such advice. Yet, my conscience is in bondage to the truth. I have received my Episcopal office in a Lutheran Church to serve the divine truth and Christian love. Christian Biblical truth and love cannot be insensitive in the presence of suffering. This suffering has been felt even on other continents and this is the reason why we are here. The state of emergency among our Lutheran brothers and sisters in Europe, especially in Scandinavia, has been heard and felt. This state of emergency is not an issue of yesterday. Indeed, it has been an open wound in the Lutheran body for decades, at least since 1983 when the 1958 clause of conscience was abrogated in Sweden after an intense and politically well-orchestrated media campaign. What is worse, such a clause was never adopted in Finland. What this meant in practice was that Lutheran Christians have been denied their fundamental Christian freedom to attend apostolic services in their churches. Instead, various attempts have been made to force them to church services that are not conducted according to the Bible and according to the order handed down to us by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I speak out openly. In Africa and in other parts of the world, we completely fail to comprehend this kind of rigid ecclesiastical tyranny in the age global human rights, including the freedom of religion and worship. Civil and church regimes that resort to coercion and even tyranny are never promoting a good cause, on the contrary. As long ago as the 17th century, England left the tyranny of the kind Archbishop William Laud pursued, seeking watertight ecclesiastical uniformity by unscrupulous, merciless, worldly means. Germany has left behind the years when the Prussian king even used troops to crush the peaceful resistance of his Lutheran subjects who could not accept church union with Protestants whose teachings ruined the Lutheran doctrine. Scandinavia should have left this kind of tyranny against Christian consciences far behind in the 19th century when governments, laws, state-church bishops and diocesan chapters persecuted in many and various ways popular Lutheran revivals in the Nordic countries. Lutheran worship and the office of the ministry go together. Strangely, it is Lutheran churches in Scandinavia, which has been in many respects a model of common welfare for the whole world, that have chosen to part ways with Christian love in favour of oppressing consciences. Whether it is the hard-dying legacy of the state church past that is still hounding Lutheran Christians, I do not know. In doing this the churches are reflecting the societies that surround them, which are becoming more and more intolerant towards the Christian faith. One of us, Bishop Borre Knudsen. has been jailed in Norway because he has vocally defended the lives of unborn children by opposing abortion. Recently, a Pentecostal preacher in Sweden was sentenced to jail, simply because he has taught his flock the truth, which we all can read in the opening chapter of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. We must not accept any attempts to intimidate and muzzle the Biblical voice of the true Christian faith. Indeed, it is wrong that ordination is denied to men who have been called by God and the Christian congregation and whose only defect is their true strength and the strength of the true church, namely faithfulness towards the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions. Those who are genuinely being called to the office of the ministry and who meet the genuine requirements of this office must be ordained to the same office. This is not the first time Lutherans are facing this kind of dilemma. We need only to bear in mind the life and example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who could not serve under a church regime that had compromised itself, who as lecturer at Zingst and Finkenwalde piloted the same course we have set today. Where the royal highway of God’s call is being blocked by political and cultural prejudice, by human authorities and human traditions, against the Word of God and the Lutheran Confessions, those of us who are free must come to the aid of our oppressed fellow Christians. The love of Christ demands this. This is why we are here today.

As a result of Arne Olsson’s consecration, he has been barred from serving as a pastor in the Church of Sweden [http://www.missionsprovinsen.se/engelsk/pressrelease_2005-02-25.htm]. As well, on recommendation of the LWF Executive Committee, on 1 September last year the LWF Council terminated Bishop Obare’s position as an advisor to the Council. This has however, not affected the membership of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya in LWF. [http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1726.EN.html]

The Mission Province continues its work in Sweden. On January 7 this year, Bishop Olsson ordained six candidates for the ministry. Some 24 other Swedish clergy assisted him. Perhaps there will be something of a revival of the Lutheran faith in this and other countries of the North.

In concluding his article on the future of Christianity, Professor Philip Jenkins wrote,

As the media have striven in recent years to present Islam in a more sympathetic light, they have tended to suggest that Islam, not Christianity, is the rising faith of Africa and Asia, the authentic or default religion of the world’s huddled masses. But Christianity is not only surviving in the global South, it is enjoying a radical revival, a return to scriptural roots. We are living in revolutionary times. [Jenkins, 68]

If only all Lutheran Churches of the South (the Third World) would demonstrate the courage shown in particular by Bishop Obare. As Lutheran Churches in the South continue to grow there will undoubtedly be conflicting voices among them. May we in the West listen to those who uphold the authority of the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, pray for them and encourage them.

David Buck

5 May, 2006

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