The Mission Province ( sv, Missionsprovinsen ) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

independent

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

founded by members of the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

who are opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood and

episcopate A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The province, which aligns with

Confessional Lutheranism Confessional Lutheranism is a name used by Lutherans to designate those who believe in the doctrines taught in the ''Book of Concord'' of 1580 (the Lutheran confessional documents) in their entirety. Confessional Lutherans maintain that faithfulne ...

, considers itself as a free-standing diocese within the

, a position rejected by the church itself."Missionsprovinsen tar steg mot eget samfund"
''Kyrkans Tidning''. 2013-05-21. The Mission Province was founded on 6 September 2003 and shares

altar and pulpit fellowship Altar and pulpit fellowship describes an ecumenical collaboration between two Christian organizations, and is a Lutheran term for full communion, or ''communio in sacris.'' ''Altar'' refers to the altar in Christian churches, which holds the sacram ...

with those in the

Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses The Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses are Lutheran dioceses that entered into schism with their Scandinavian national churches in 2003 due to what they perceived as "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countri ...

, in addition to being a member of the International Lutheran Conference.

History

The Province was founded as an alternative ecclesiastical jurisdiction in order to support the establishment of new free

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...

ic communities (''koinonias''). It contains the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, Schartauan Confessional and

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

expressions found in the Church of Sweden on the doctrinal basis of the

Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard of the Lutheran Church, consisting of ten credal documents recognized as authoritative in Lutheranism since ...

. On 5 February 2005, The Most Reverend Walter Obare Omwanza, presiding bishop of the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya ( sw, Kanisa la Kiinjili la Kilutheri Katika Kenya) is a Lutheran denomination in Kenya. It is a member of the Global Confessional and Missional Lutheran Forum, the Lutheran World Federation (which it join ...

, assisted by bishops Leonid Zviki from Belarus, David Tswaedi from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Børre Knudsen Børre Arnold Knudsen (1937–2014) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest noted for his anti-abortion activism. Together with Ludvig Nessa, he staged protests at abortion clinics as well as other public stunts starting in the late 1980s, and he spent ti ...

and Ulf Asp from Norway, consecrated

Arne Olsson Arne Olsson (born 1930) is a Swedish Lutheran bishop. He is the Bishop Ordinary of the Mission Province. Olsson is a retired pastor in the Lutheran Church of Sweden, having been e.g. the parish priest of Habo. On 5 February 2005 in Gothenburg, h ...

in apostolic succession as the Ordinary for the Mission Province. In April 2006, Bishop

consecrated pastors Lars Artman and Göran Beijer as assistant bishops for the Mission Province. The alternative hierarchy of the Mission province ordains candidates for the priesthood who are not in favour of the ordination of women and who are therefore not accepted for ordination in the national Churches of Sweden or Finland. In Sweden there are 25-30 congregations led by Mission Province priests, in addition to 30-35 congregations in Finland. Though the Mission Province holds itself to be a non-territorial diocese within the Church of Sweden, bishops of the Church of Sweden do not acknowledge the Mission Province as a part of the Church of Sweden and Bishop

was

defrocked Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or ...

soon after his episcopal ordination as were Lars Artman and Göran Beijer. Since 2015 the Mission Province has been in fellowship with the

Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland The Mission Diocese, officially the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, ( fi, Suomen evankelisluterilainen lähetyshiippakunta, sv, Evangelisk-lutherska missionsstiftet i Finland) is an independent confessional Lutheran "ecclesial s ...

and the

Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway ( no, Det evangelisk-lutherske stift i Norge) is a Lutheran diocese in Norway, founded in Kautokeino in 2013. Branched out from the " Church of Norway in Exile" (formerly the Deanery of Strandebarm), the bishop ...

. The Mission Province is also, as of 2018, a member of the

International Lutheran Council The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is a worldwide association of confessional Lutheran denominations. Member bodies of the ILC hold "an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lu ...

. Missionsprovinsen i Sverige.
Retrieved: 3 March 2019.

References

External links

Homepage of Missionsprovinsen
*
Statutes for The Mission Province in Sweden, decided by The Provincial Convention, May 17th, 2004 (some additions the 15th of January 2005)

A Report on a Visit to the Free Synod of the Church of Sweden and the Missionary Province 18 – 29 August, 2003
by The Rev. Paul C. Hewett, SSC

The National Assembly of

Forward in Faith Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pr ...

UK on Friday 6th and Saturday 7 October 2006 Church of Sweden Christian organizations established in 2003 2003 establishments in Sweden {{Lutheran-stub

History

See also

References

External links