The Lutheran Free Church (LFC) was a Lutheran denomination that existed in the United States from 1897 to 1963 mainly in Minnesota and North Dakota. However the church history predates its official start and a breakaway group of congregations continues today under the LFC legacy.
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Background
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Georg Sverdrup and Sven Oftedal were two scholars from prominent Haugean families in Norway who came to Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota to teach in the 1870s, bringing with them a genuinely radical view of Christian education, centered on Scripture and the simple doctrines of Christianity. They had been concerned with hierarchy within the Christian church and study of the Bible. They believed that, according to the New Testament of the Bible, the local congregation was the correct form of God's kingdom on earth. [1]
Their vision was for a church that:
- Promoted a "living" Christianity,
- Emphasized an evangelism that would result in changed lives,
- Enabled the church member to exercise their spiritual gifts.
In 1890 the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was formed by three Lutheran church bodies that included the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Augsburg was the school of the "Conference" and thus Sverdrup and Oftedal.
A dispute within the UNLC over which school Augsburg or St. Olaf should be the college of the church body lead in 1893 to the creation of the Friends of Augsburg. By 1896, Sverdrup, Oftedal and others felt their beliefs of a "free church in a free land" were being compromised and broke away from the UNLC, forming the Lutheran Free Church in 1897.
By the 1950s, however there was a growing movement by many Lutherans throughout the United States to join their many small Lutheran bodies into larger body. The Lutheran Free Church joined the American Lutheran Church on February 1, 1963 after three votes (1955, 1957 and 1961). The ALC in time also joined with other Lutheran churches and, in 1988, formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
About 40 Lutheran Free Churches however did not join the ALC, instead forming the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations in October 1962. Today the AFLC has more than 250 congregations.
The LFC's publishing house was Messenger Press and its official English language magazine was the Lutheran Messenger started in 1918. The church also had for most of its earlier history a Norwegian language publication Folkebladet (the People's Paper).
Presidents of the LFC
| Name | Term |
|---|---|
| Elias P. Harbo | 1897-1899 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1899-1901 |
| Elias P. Harbo | 1901-1903 |
| Christopher K. Ytrehus | 1903-1905 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1905-1907 |
| Elias P. Harbo | 1907-1909 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1909-1910 |
| Paul Winter | 1910-1912 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1912-1914 |
| Johan Mattson | 1914-1916 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1916-1918 |
| Johan Mattson | 1918-1920 |
| Olai H. Sletten | 1920-1923 |
| Endre E. Gynild | 1923-1928 |
| Hans J. Urdahl | 1928-1930 |
| Thorvald O. Burntvedt | 1930-1958 |
| John Stensvaag | 1958-1963 |
Annual Conferences
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References
- ^ Standing Fast in Freedom (The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations) http://www.aflc.org/history
Other Sources
- Eugene L. Fevold, The Lutheran Free Church: A Fellowship of American Lutheran Congregations 1897-1963 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1969)
- Loiell Dyrud, The Quest for Freedom: The Lutheran Free Church to The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations (Minneapolis: Ambassador Publications, 2000)
- Clarence J. Carlsen, The Years of Our Church (Minneapolis: The Lutheran Free Church Publishing Company, 1942) (pdf link below)
External links
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