Posted on 09/30/2004 9:09:14 PM PDT by sauerkraut
Ecumenical News International Daily News Service 30 September 2004
Swedish breakaway diocese awaits first bishop and new priests By Lars Grip
Stockholm, 30 September (ENI)--A breakaway diocese of the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden, the Mission Province, hopes soon to ordain a bishop and three priests of its own.
The Mission Province is not a geographical diocese but a grouping of Swedish Lutherans who oppose women priests and reject the Church of Sweden's support for a wedding ceremony for homosexual couples.
The name of the bishop has not yet been made public, but the consecration is scheduled to be led by Bishop Walter Obare Omwansa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya at the end of October, said Bengt Birgersson, secretary of the Mission Province. The ordinations of the priests, one of whom comes from Finland, will be performed by the new bishop, once he has been consecrated by Obare.
The Mission Province claims 400 members, of whom 40 are priests, currently paid by the Church of Sweden.
"After the ordinations, I am sure the Church of Sweden will take away authorisation for many of us to exercise our offices as priests," said Birgersson.
The place where the ceremonies will be held is not yet known, since the Church of Sweden will not allow the breakaway group to use its churches or property.
Earlier this year the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden warned the members of the breakaway diocese that if they consecrated a bishop of their own they would be cutting themselves off from the church.
"They will not be excluded, but they will banish themselves from the Church of Sweden," the archbishop's press secretary, Kristiina Ruuti, told Ecumenical News International. "If they take the step to have a bishop of their own, then by definition they do not share the confession [doctrinal basis] of the Church of Sweden. But they will remain as members in our church if they want, since no one can be excluded."
Still, the Mission Province is not concerned about the criticism from the leaders of the Church of Sweden.
"It is quite unimportant what they say, since we are not departing from the confession of the Church of Sweden. It is the archbishop who has taken many steps to depart from the confession, not us," Birgersson said. "We don't accept their denial of us, but if they want to break off our authorization [as priests], we accept that," he explained. "However, we will still be members of the Church of Sweden."
It is indeed. Hopefully this is only the start.
I have met many of these pastors involved with the Mission Province and am good friends with one of the leaders. I support these brothers in the faith who are trying to maintain a confessional Lutheran presence in the midst of an apostate church body and secularized nation.
For those of you who can handle the Swedish, here is the homepage for the Missionsprovinsen i Sverige.
It is refreshing to see Lutherans standing up for the Gospel, hopefully ELCA will take heed.
The ELCA will not take heed. However, there are those within the ELCA who probably will. I think the ELCA will be going through some changes.
The reason the ELCA will not do the right thing is because of their relationship with the National Council of Churches. NEVER attend any church that belongs to the NCC.
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