Al’s Posts
DEFROCKED in Norway
May 16th
Pictured clockwise from Left) Pr Joel Kerosuo, Bp With, Bp Matti Väisänen, Bp Roland Gustafsson and Anssi Simojoki.
Photo courtesy of Jouko Makkonen.
Dear Praying Friends,
I am filled with deep gratitude to you who have prayed for my meeting with the Tunsberg bishop today. An extra thank you to all of you who responded so quickly. Assured of prayers and support from all of you, I traveled to Tønsberg with confidence. During the meeting, I felt comfort and peace.
The conversation in Tønsberg was characterized by a surprisingly calm seriousness. The Church of Norway has placed Mrs. Laila Riksaasen Dahl as bishop of Tunsberg diocese. Since I now live in Tunsberg diocese, it is her official duty to make the final decision on disciplinary measures, because I let myself be consecrated bishop in violation of applicable canon law provisions of the Church of Norway.
In the conversation I elaborated the basis for the actions that began with doctrinal conversations at my initiative with my then Bishop of Nidaros, and ended with my episcopal ordination in Tromsø in 2012. Laila Riksaasen Dahl listened attentively and sympathetically, revealing good theological insight and respect. She expressed, in an unexpectedly clear manner, her understanding that this matter shall at the Last Day be of profound seriousness to both parties.
I pointed out that when the bishops and CoN’s General Assembly accept unbiblical teachings in the Church, they break apart the unity of the Church of Norway. Because of the new doctrine of the bishop of Nidaros, I had to exclude him from the church communion fellowship. And when church members, because of what has happened elsewhere, have no shepherd and call me to help, my ordination vow commits me to take care of the flock – even as a bishop. With fervent desire I encouraged her, along with my former Bishop of Nidaros, to change their doctrine, and I promised my prayer for that to happen.
Laila Riksaasen Dahl concluded the conversation by stating that, particularly due to the episcopal ordination in Tromsø, she decided to terminate my authorization as a pastor in the Church of Norway. To this I replied that the new doctrine contrary to Scripture has led us to this rupture, and to the consequences that are now taking place. There and then I put on my episcopal cross and made visible in this way our claim to be a diocese in the church. Explicit notice was taken of this symbolic act.
Epilogue:
I see an image of the Norwegian church as a large and pleasant area, built on floats. Priests, bishops – and laity in the CoN General Assembly – cut away the tendons that keep this area secured to land – one mooring after the other. When the floating area now drifts from shore, it can easily seem that they who control developments are sending us who have other foundations under our feet away from themselves. But we, who stand on the firm ground, know that really it is they who drift away from the mainland of Christ’s Church; they drift away before the weather and wind of this age.
Let us pray that the Lord may have mercy!
Yours in Christ
+Thor Henrik
The De-Frocking of Bishop Thor Henrik With
May 15th
{Note: Bishop Thor Henrik With was consecrated Bishop in Northern Norway (Valgmenighetene i Nordnorge) in a Divine Service on Saturday, 24 March 2012, in Tromsø, Norway. LCMS Theological Educator to the Baltics, Rev. Dr. Charles Evanson attended Bishop With’s consecration. He provides the translation below with a plea for prayers as it appears Bishop With will be defrocked by the Church of Norway for holding to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. Pictured is Bishop With with Archbishop Obare from 24 March 2012.}
Dear friends!
Will you pray for me, and again tomorrow, Thursday, May 16?
I am summoned to meet the bishop of Tunsberg tomorrow at 10 am, because I have allowed myself to become bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Foundation in Norway. Apparently the bishop of Tunsberg will announce the decision that I will be deprived of priestly rights in the Norwegian church. As they say, I am to “lose robe and collar.”
Since the Church of Norway has deluded itself into thinking that God blesses gay relationships and made it a doctrine, to which bishops and priests are to gladly agree to in their dioceses and parishes, the loss of priestly rights is sad, but it is not catastrophic. It is hard to bear that church members are deceived in this way, and that brother priests whom I would lead in the good fight of faith now become opponents. Also in other serious matters the church which took me into the ministry when I was ordained on December 16, 1979 is suffering. It is in serious conflict with the only Word that can give life and eternal salvation.
Will you pray that I receive wisdom and love to carry forward concern and guidance before the Tunsberg bishop, and to testify clearly about that to which God’s Word commits us?
What is most of all at stake is the faithfulness of bishops and priests to Scripture and the Lutheran Confession to which they pledged their commitment at ordination – and therewith their proper guidance and care for all God’s people, on the road to judgment and the resurrection of life.
I thank you very much, friends, that I can count on you!
Yours in Christ,
+ Thor Henrik
–
Posted by Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, LCMS Director of Church Relations.
Lutheran Hosts Recognized
Apr 30th
Rev. Dr. Albert Collver presented the Jill and Glen Oster a plaque of thanks from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod for their support of LCMS missionary efforts in Papua New Guinea (through caring for the Mission Children of LCMS PNG missionaries).
Dr. Collver noted that the Lutheran church has a long history of families hosting school children, beginning perhaps with Martin Luther being hosted by the Cotta family when he was a school boy (pictured above). Dr. Collver said, “It is a wonderful service to the Lord to host the children of missionaries in your home. Thank you and May Christ richly bless you.”
The Osters are spending almost 6 weeks traveling the US to visit as many of the 33 missionary kids and missionary alumni parents as they can. So far they have been to Hawaii, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, and from there they move on to Ohio, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Texas, flying out of Dallas back to Adelaide.
The Osters were touched to be publicly thanked — and didn’t know about the recognition planned at the LCMS International Center.
Just a few things Glen said, “about 50 years ago, there was an announcement in their church to host American children. And Jill said, ‘I like the American accent.’ … we decided to help. Initially we hosted 3 boys and 2 girls, never knowing that eventually we’d host 33!”
Jill and Glenn Oster were a young newlywed couple when they volunteered to provide a home away from home for the first group of LCMS missionary children who attended Concordia College (a boarding school High School) in Adelaide, Australia. Between, 1963-1979 they hosted and took care of a total of 33 high school students, all children of LCMS missionaries in Papua New Guinea. The LCMS missionaries were able to focus on their mission work knowing that their children were in the God-guided hands of the Osters who treated the missionary children as their own.
Jill and Glen Oster and Carrie (Burce) and Myron Koehn, executive director of LCMS Information Technologies. (Carrie is a missionary kid of the first LCMS missionaries —the Burces — to PNG and one of the last children hosted by the Osters)
Myron Koehn introduced the Osters in chapel:
“Joining us today are Glen and Jill Oster from Adelaide South Australia. Between the years of 1963 and 1979 this amazing couple voluntarily hosted a total of 33 LCMS New Guinea missionary kids (MK’s) whose parents sent them to high school at the Concordia boarding school in Adelaide. The Osters are now making their way across the country visiting as many of those 33 missionary kids as possible before returning to Adelaide in a few weeks. On a personal note, Glen and Jill, I want to express my thanks to you for taking such good care of my wife, Carrie, who was among the last of the 33 MK’s you hosted. Rev. Dr. Al Collver is here today representing The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and I understand that he has something for you…”
Glen is now retired from his carpentry career. Both Glen and Jill were quite active in their Lutheran congregation and at Concordia College (High School) in Adelaide — often volunteering wherever and whenever help was needed. Glen and Jill are members of the Lutheran Church of Australia with whom the LCMS enjoyed a very strong Papua New Guinea ministry partnership dating back to the 1940s. Praise be to God for all He accomplished through that ministry partnership and His servants, the Osters.
– Posted by Rev. Dr. Albert B. Collver, LCMS Director of Church Relations on 30 April 2013.
Ethiopian Lutheran church breaks fellowship with ELCA
Feb 15th
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod – Ethiopian Lutheran church breaks fellowship with ELCA
http://reporter.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=20867
By Adriane Dorr
One of the largest Lutheran church bodies in the world, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), announced Feb. 5 that it had broken fellowship with “those churches who have openly accepted same-sex marriage,” namely, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Church of Sweden.
With more than 6 million members, the EECMY recognized that the “challenges and changes that we encounter in our contexts are forcing us to make decisions which are consistent with our belief about God and our biblical, theological and ethical understandings,” explained the Rev. Dr. Wakseyoum Idosa, president of the EECMY.
At the request of the EECMY, LCMS church leaders traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to take part in the EECMY’s Committee of Mutual Christian Responsibility (CMCR). During this Feb. 4-6 meeting, ELCA officials asked for clarification regarding the EECMY’s decision on human sexuality. Director of Church Relations Dr. Albert B. Collver III; the Rev. Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, executive director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations; and Dr. Michael Rodewald, regional director for Africa, took part on behalf of the LCMS.
Watching the church bodies part ways was “deeply sobering,” said Lehenbauer. “This was clearly a sad and painful moment in this history of the relationship between these two churches. But the EECMY acted in accordance with their long-held and patiently expressed biblical conviction on this issue, rooted in their conscience-bound view that Scripture alone is and must be our only authority for deciding such matters — matters that go to the heart of the Gospel itself.”
“The ELCA is very saddened by this decision,” said the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director for ELCA Global Mission, in a press release issued by the ELCA. “The ELCA and its predecessor church bodies have been walking with the people of Ethiopia for more than 50 years, and our sister church, the Church of Sweden, for more than 150 years. In this journey, we have learned from one another, we have deepened and extended the bonds of fellowship and partnership in the Gospel.”
Undergoing a realignment
“At this moment in history, world Lutheranism, particularly in Africa, is undergoing a realignment,” Collver noted. “African Lutheran churches, full of gratitude for receiving the Gospel from their partners, are confronted with the reality that some of their partners have departed from that faith once delivered to them.”
In this instance, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly voted in 2009 to allow gay and lesbian pastors to serve in the ministry. But after its own General Assembly meeting in 2010, the EECMY sent a letter to Bishop Mark Hanson of the ELCA, rejecting “the decision of the ELCA that allows gays and lesbians to become clergy and engage in the church’s ministry.” The letter encouraged the ELCA to repent and return to the “eternal holy and inspired Word of God,” noting the EECMY’s “serious concern,” “deep sadness” and “dismay” over the position taken by the ELCA on human sexuality.
“The fundamental position of the EECMY on any ethical issue including homosexual practice rests on her belief in the eternal truth of teaching of the Holy Scripture and not on human decision,” the EECMY’s letter stated. But in July 2012, after years of waiting for a response from the ELCA and receiving none, the EECMY’s General Assembly finally voted, and fellowship between the churches was over.
Official minutes from the 2012 meeting make clear that EECMY members will no longer “receive Holy Communion from the leadership and pastors of the [ELCA and the Church of Sweden]” and, in turn, that “the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus will not distribute communion to these churches.”
“We appreciate the strong stand taken by African Lutheran Christians toward a biblical understanding of those social issues that challenge us together as Christians,” Rodewald noted. “Their courage in taking such a stand is encouraging to us in a time when some Lutheran church bodies are looking to other means than Scripture for guidance.” “These African Lutheran churches remaining faithful to the Holy Scriptures also see it as their duty to call Western churches to repentance for departing from the historic Christian faith,” added Collver.
“These churches will seek partners in Africa and around the world who share the same convictions as they do about the Holy Scriptures. The EECMY is an encouragement to churches around the world for being a faithful witness. We as the LCMS need to lift the EECMY up in prayer, so that we can be like Aaron holding up Moses’ hands.”
LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison acknowledged the weightiness of the situation, saying, “The LCMS is sensitive to the difficulty the EECMY faced in making a decision of this magnitude, and we appreciate the bold and courageous action of EECMY General Assembly. Our church stands ready to talk with the EECMY if or when they are ready, and we invite them for further discussions on how we can together serve the Lord and His people.”
Adriane Dorr is managing editor of The Lutheran Witness.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tanzania Trip Segment
Feb 13th
We arrived in Mwanza, Tanzania, on 9 February 2013. Mwanza is on Lake Victoria and the second largest city in Tanzania. It is also the headquarters of the East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELVD) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). The Mid-South District of the LCMS had a partnership with the ELVD for more than a decade. In fact, Bob Allen of the Mid-South District is a name revered in the ELVD for his tireless work.
The East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELVD) has a unique history in the Evangelical Luther Church of Tanzania (ELCT). Unlike the other dioceses which were a product of the various European mission societies, beginning with the Leipzig Mission Society in the 1840s near Mount Kilimanjaro, the ELVD was created by the Tanzania church for the purpose of mission. Only 15% of the population in the region are Christians and most of the people hold to traditional religion.
The tilapia fish in the logo of the ELVD represents not the fish in Lake Victoria, but the deep hard to reach mission areas in Tanzania. This is one of the fastest growing areas in Tanzania in terms of mission outreach.
We visited the ELVD cathedral and headquarters.
The ELVD Cathedral holds about 2000 people with an average attendance of 900 people per service (1800 per Sunday).
The service and liturgy on Sunday is very similar to a Missouri Synod service from Lutheran Service Book (LSB). Both the ELCT and the LCMS drew their liturgy from the same source — the Leipzig Agenda. The German missionaries brought the Leipzig Agenda to Tanzania and CFW Walther brought the Leipzig Agenda to America. The liturgy is nearly identical and many of the hymns are the same.
Like the Missouri Synod, the ELCT has a mixture of historic and more contemporary or modern music. In the ELCT, the liturgy is used strictly and every congregation uses the same order, even as songs both ancient and modern are interspersed. This seems like a good model that perhaps the LCMS could learn from. (FYI: Worship began at 7 am and lasted three hours. The service starts early so people can go to work if needed. There also were three offerings which roughly corresponded to Witness, Mercy, Life Together — this is simply what the church does.)
Bishop Andrew Gulle with LCMS Pastor and Missionary Shauen Trump in Mwanza, Tanzania,waiting for the ferry across Lake Victoria. Pastor Trump is the only Swahili speaking LCMS missionary.
We took the ferry to cross Lake Victoria so we could reach the newly created diocese — the South East if Lake Victoria Diocese (SELVD). Bishop Elect Emmanuel Makala, a doctoral student at the Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne and supported by the LCMS Mid-South District, will be installed on 5 May 2013 as Bishop. Bishop Elect Makala was the assistant to Bishop Gulle before being elected to serve as Bishop.
The cathedral of the SELVD is being constructed now with the hope that it will be finished in time for the installation of Bishop Makala.
Children with the ELCT Hymnal memorizing the Small Catechism on Saturday Confirmation Class. When the children are admitted to Confirmation Class, the children’s parents are invited to the front of the church to pledge that their child will learn the Small Catechism. The ELCT hymnal has a rite for the beginning of catechism class that is used for this service. We had the opportunity to witness this on Sunday morning.
The future headquarters of the SELVD. Not yet completed but hopefully soon.
Dr. Mike Rodewald, Bishop Andrew Gulle, Dr. Albert Collver, and Pastor Shauen Trump at the site of the Old Shinyanga Church, planted by Evangelist Andrew Gulle 20 years ago.
Pastor Shauen Trump receiving a gift at the site of the SELVD Cathedral.
Bishop Gulle indicated that the greatest assistance the LCMS can be is to walk along side of the Tanzania church and assist with theological education. He also indicated that the Tanzanian Church is carefully watching the decision made by the Evangelical Ethiopian Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) to break fellowship with the ELCA and the Church of Sweden over the issue of same sex marriage and ordination. In 2010, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) issued the Dedoma Statement which affirms the Biblical teaching on marriage and commits that their church will affirm the Holy Scriptures rather than sociological doctrine from America and Europe.
Rainbow over Yerusalemu Lutheran Church on Transfiguration Sunday.
The future of Lutheranism may reside in Africa rather than either Europe or America. In Africa today, there are more than 20 million Lutherans (that is, people who attend church nearly every Sunday — unlike Europe or America). The African Lutheran Churches are showing themselves willing to resist anti-Scriptural ideas imposed upon them by Europe and America. Of course, the African Lutheran Churches have many challenges as well. The day could come when Africa sends missionaries to pagan Europe and America. There would be a certain irony in this as Africa was one of the first places to adopt the Christian faith — think of the great theologians Athanasius and Augustin, not to mention the Ethiopian Eunuch in the book of Acts who took the Christian faith to Ethiopia.
… On way to Accra Ghana, Africa, for an African Theological Conference sponsored by the LCMS and the Luther Academy.
– Posted the Monday after Transfiguration by Rev. Dr.
Albert Collver in flight over central Africa.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
