The Union of Independent Evangelical Lutheran Congregations in Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelisluterilainen seurakuntaliitto (or simply as ''Seurakuntaliitto'', Union of Congregations), sv, Evangelisk-lutherska församlingsförbundet i Finland) is an independent Evangelical Lutheran church body in Finland. It is registered as religious community in 23 August 1928. It is an association or a synod of free and independent Evangelical Lutheran local congregations. It emphasizes the freedom of congregations to run its own affairs. Five local congregations join in as the Union of Congregations. The member congregations are located in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Karstula Karstula is a municipality of Finland founded in 1867. It is located in the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities are ...

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

Marttila Marttila (; sv, S:t Mårtens, i.e. " Saint Martin's") is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area o ...

and

Veteli Veteli ( sv, Vetil) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Central Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a population of almost 3200 in 2019. and covers an area of of which is water. ...

and they have also activities in other parts of Finland. The Union of Congregations had 482 members in 2016.

Doctrine

The Union of Congregations and each of its member congregations confess the Holy Bible from each part as firm Word of God which is written by inspiration of Holy Spirit and confess it as only fully valid norm of faith and life. The Union of Congregations and each of its local congregations avows themselves also to the doctrine of the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, because it is taken from Holy Bible which is the highest authority in all matters of Christian faith and doctrine.

Brief history

The origin of the Union of Congregations is the dispute in the Lutheran Evangelical revival movement (which movement was founded by Fredrik Gabriel Hedberg) on 1920s, is the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positio ...

enough committed to the Lutheran Confessions. It actualized when the new law on the freedom of religion in 1923 made it possible to resign the National Church and to form own religious community. Majority of the Lutheran Evangelical revival movement remained within the National Church. Beyond the foundation of the Union of Congregations was also necessity to go apart from unbiblical teaching. The inspiration for founding own free churches came from among other things Confessional Lutheran free churches of German and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. The first Evangelical Lutheran free congregation was founded in 1923 in Luopioinen. Later congregations in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

, Tampere, Veteli and Marttila were founded. The leaders had dispute on the doctrine of the atonement in 1924 and it caused that these free Lutheran congregations were divided into two Lutheran church bodies. The Union of Congregations is the bigger one. The other one is ''Suomen tunnustuksellinen luterilainen kirkko'' (official English name is the Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland).

Activities and publications

The congregations are cooperating as a union of congregations in publishing ministry and camp activities. In addition to Divine services youths' gatherings, Children's clubs, gatherings at homes (Bible Study Groups and Singing) are own activities of local congregations. The Union of Congregations has camp and training center ''Kukkian Keidas'' in Luopioinen at Kuohijoki. The Union of Congregations has published books and own translation of New testament and Psalms which is adopted in 1935 (Psalms in 1949) and translation is linguistically revised in 1983.seurakuntaliiton-julkaisut The Union of Congregations publishes a periodical Seurakuntalainen and its circulation is 450. The Pastors of the Union of Congregations has the right to perform wedding ceremonies.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Union of Independent Evangelical Lutheran Congregations in Finland, The Lutheranism in Finland