LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 143

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5. THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
and faithfully to the Lutheran Confessions. In response, the
Luther Foundation was established in 1999 by individuals
within the Finnish national church. The purpose of the Luther
Foundation was to support confessional Lutheran pastors and
congregations in teaching and practice that remained faithful
to the Scriptures and Confessions.
In 2003, the Mission Province of Sweden was formed. Its
purpose was to support confessional Lutheran pastors and
congregations and to restore the possibility of ordination for
future pastors who either could not be ordained or would not
be properly supervised in the increasingly liberalized and
radicalized Nordic national churches. In 2006, the Mission
Province was expanded and renamed the Mission Province in
Sweden and Finland. Eventually, in 2013, the ELMDF was
formed as an independent church body. Formed by
congregations under episcopal oversight, the ELMDF
describes its purpose as follows: “We want to keep the legacy
of the Reformation on display and lead people deeper into the
scriptures and the Lutheran tradition” (www.lhpk.fi).

remain. Nevertheless, the ELMDF remains faithful to God’s
Word.
The Augsburg Confession (AC), Article VII, defines the Church
as the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is
purely preached and the Holy Sacraments are administered
according to the Gospel. By this measure, the ELMDF is a
church that stands firm in the right teaching and
administration of the means of grace.
Representatives of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
(LCMS) and ELMDF began formal correspondence and
discussions concerning the possibility of fellowship between
our two church bodies in 2017. In 2018, the ELMDF was
accepted into the International Lutheran Council as a full
member. At that same time, the ELMDF formally requested a
recognition of fellowship with the LCMS.

The aim of the ELMDF is to proclaim the Gospel, to establish
new congregations, to deepen the knowledge of the Christian
faith, and to revitalize and support the devotional life of its
members.

As required by LCMS Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2, the LCMS Commission
on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) engaged in careful
and thorough consideration of pertinent theological
documents, reports on face-to-face discussions between
LCMS and ELMDF representatives, correspondence regarding
specific theological and ecclesial issues, and a face-to-face
meeting with then-Bishop Risto Soramies in a February 2020
meeting of the entire commission. As a result, the CTCR
unanimously adopted a motion recommending the
recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship with the ELMDF on
Feb. 21, 2020. Having received that recommendation and after
consulting with the LCMS Praesidium, President Matthew C.
Harrison wrote to Bishop Soramies on Oct. 5, 2020, declaring
the “recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship between our
two churches.”

The member congregations of the ELMDF are the setting for
its work. Each congregation is individually named and its
members are organized according to a congregational
constitution. Each congregation gathers for liturgical worship
around the Word and the Sacraments, led by an ordained
pastor called to serve that congregation. At the same time, the
practical life of congregations relies heavily on the work of lay
volunteers.

The ELMDF is a vibrant part of the Nordic and worldwide
community of confessional Lutherans. The ELMDF is in altar
and pulpit fellowship with other biblical and confessional
Lutheran churches such as the Lutheran Church—Canada
(LCC), the German Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church
(SELK), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of England
(ELCE). All three of these church bodies are also in altar and
pulpit fellowship with the LCMS.

The pastors of the congregations and elected lay delegates
together form a Diocesan Assembly. A Diocesan Council,
elected by the Diocesan Assembly, then plans and executes the
administration of the Diocese and the practical matters of its
work.

WHEREAS, The ELMDF is a confessional Lutheran church
consisting of over 40 congregations in Finland; and

Thus, the Mission Diocese confesses the prophetic and
apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the
inspired and infallible Word of God. It subscribes to the entire
Book of Concord as a faithful exposition of the Word of God in
all its articles. The ELMDF thereby holds that all doctrine,
practice and life must be examined, carried out, and directed
on the basis of God’s Word and the Lutheran Confessions.

The ELMDF upholds all the teachings of Scripture without
fear or compromise. It willingly addresses controversial topics
and allows no concession with unbiblical teachings. It has
held fast to the Bible’s understandings of man and woman,
marriage, the ordination of only qualified males to the
ministry, and other matters. This steadfastness has also led
the church to publish writings that defend the Bible’s
teachings and encourage faithful conduct and life. The
ELMDF’s willingness to promote biblical teachings about
human sexuality resulted in charges of hate speech against the
ELMDF’s Bishop Juhana Pohjola and Dr. Päivi Räsänen, the
author of an ELMDF pamphlet on sexuality. Although the
charges were initially dropped, threats of legal prosecution

Resolutions

WHEREAS, The ELMDF emerged from the ELCF due to
doctrinal disagreements and over ethical questions addressed
clearly in Scripture such as the ordination of women, samesex marriage, and the ordination of practicing homosexuals;
and
WHEREAS, Pastors of the ELMDF have made public
confessions of faith not only in churches, but also before
“kings” (governing authorities, see Psalm 119:46 and AC
Preface), making a defense for their position on the Holy
Scriptures and the Book of Concord; and
WHEREAS, Many of these confessors of the faith were
defrocked because of their faithful witness to Christ and His
Word; and
WHEREAS, The ELMDF bears witness to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in a country where about 2 percent of the population
attends church on a weekly basis; and
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 143