LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2001, Page 201

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UNPRINTED REPORT AND LATE OVERTURES
L3-139

To Formally Declare Altar and Pulpit
Fellowship with Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Latvia
Preamble
Latvia is located in northern Europe on the Baltic Sea
and is approximately the size of Pennsylvania. Estonia lies
to the north, Lithuania to the south, and Russia to the east.
In the 11th century German missionaries brought Christianity to the Latvian tribes and in the 12th century a
bishop was installed in Riga. The Reformation came early
to the Baltic region and the Lutheran Church was organized in Latvia in 1522. Until the 17th century, the
Lutheran Church of Latvia was largely governed by German ecclesiastical oversight and followed the German
Church order. Latvia then was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sweden, and its Lutheran Church established
strong ties with the Church of Sweden (Lutheran), which
it maintained through the 20th century. After World War I
the church was reorganized as the Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Latvia (ELCL). An episcopal form of church
polity remained in place with one bishop for the Germans
in Latvia and the other for the Latvians, who served as the
archbishop. He was consecrated by bishops of the Church
of Sweden. World War II and Soviet occupation occasioned
serious hardships for the ELCL. Nearly all its pastors were
killed or deported, and the succession of bishops was interrupted. Restoration of national autonomy in 1991 brought
the freedom to restore the internal stability of the Lutheran
Church. Today the ELCL has one archbishop whose see is
Riga, the capital city of Latvia. Latvia possesses a religiously mixed population of Lutherans, Roman Catholics,
and Russian Orthodox. Thirty-nine percent or approximately 600,000 regard themselves as Lutherans. Recent
statistics indicate that the ELCL has 101 ordained pastors
and 304 congregations. There are 68 evangelists, of whom
30 serve as pastors.
To ensure the training of confessional Lutheran pastors,
in 1997 the ELCL established the Luther Academy in Riga.
With funds from the LCMS, it renovated a building near
the Lutheran cathedral to serve as a seminary. It was dedicated on May 5, 2000. The Luther Academy now graduates
men for the Lutheran ministry and is led by a rector, Professor Dr. Reinhard Slenczka. A number of its professors
and teachers are working for advanced degrees from LCMS
seminaries.
Contact between the ELCL and the LCMS began in the
early 1990s and increased in frequency and intensity since
then. Significant has been the use of LCMS professors in
summer seminars and other educational settings. Through
growing mutual understanding and respect, the ELCL and
the LCMS determined to initiate discussions concerning
matters of doctrine and practice. The Rev. Robert Hartfield
represented the LCMS at the 19th ELCL Synod in May
1998. In May 2000 Dr. Samuel Nafzger and Dr. William
Weinrich met with Archbishop Janis Vanags and other
ELCL representatives for formal talks on items of mutual
interest. These discussions were successful and were fol-

201

lowed by others in Riga in November 2000, where Dr.
Nafzger and Dr. Robert Kuhn represented the LCMS. A
third round of talks took place on April 22, 2001, in Fort
Wayne, Indiana, with Dr. Nafzger, Dr. Kuhn, Dr. Weinrich,
and Dr. Raymond Hartwig representing the LCMS. All involved came to the consensus that sufficient agreement in
doctrine and practice existed to recommend that formal fellowship between the ELCL and the LCMS be established.
During the Soviet period the ELCL’s membership in the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) allowed it to have contact with other Lutheran churches. While it is an LWF
member, it does not regard its membership as having the
force of fellowship. In that forum and other places the
ELCL received international attention for its opposition to
the ordaining of women, a practice which the Reverend
Janis Vanags discontinued upon becoming Archbishop of
Riga and Primate of Latvia. Its opposition to issues such as
homosexual and lesbian lifestyles and the ordination of homosexual and lesbian persons also places the ELCL as an
important confessor of the historic Christian faith. All their
positions are consistent with those of the LCMS, which recognizes that any fellowship is based upon such understandings. The ELCL signed neither the Porvoo Statement,
a document establishing fellowship between churches of the
Anglican and Lutheran communions in northern Europe,
nor the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
with the Roman Catholic Church.
The ELCL agrees with the LCMS that the Scriptures
are the inerrant and inspired Word of God and that the
Lutheran Confessions are an accurate exposition of them.
In its 1928 Constitution, reaffirmed in 1996, the ELCL recognizes “the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as the only foundation for doctrine and life” and the
ecumenical creeds, the unaltered Augsburg Confession,
Luther’s Small Catechism, and the other writings of the
Book of Concord as “explanations of the Holy Scriptures
which have arisen in the course of history.”
WHEREAS, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia
(ELCL) has its origin in the spread of the Lutheran Reformation into Eastern Europe in the 16th century; and
WHEREAS, The pastors and congregations of the ELCL
have remained faithful to the Scriptures and the Lutheran
Confessions in spite of severe hardship and testing during
certain periods of their history as a Lutheran church; and
WHEREAS, There have been increasing contacts between
the ELCL and the LCMS in recent years; and
WHEREAS, Discussions between official representatives
of the ELCL and the LCMS have revealed doctrinal agreement between our two churches; and
WHEREAS, The President of the LCMS has expressed
support for this resolution and has asked the CTCR to address the declaration of altar and pulpit fellowship in keeping with Bylaw 13.03; and
WHEREAS, The CTCR received reports from the church
leaders who were involved in the doctrinal discussions between the ELCL and the LCMS and has recommended that
the LCMS declare altar and pulpit fellowship with the
ELCL; therefore be it
Resolved, That we give thanks to God for the goodness
and grace that he has shown to our brothers and sisters in
200l Convention Proceedings