Controversial group has gotten their own bishop (Mission Province in Sweden)

[I'm pinging both the Swedish and the Lutheran ping lists on this one. Here's an update, new today. CH]

22.02.2005

LWF Executive Committee Recommends Termination of Kenyan Bishop's Tenure as Council Adviser

Critical Stance on Bishop's Consecration of Pastor in Sweden

GENEVA, 22 February 2005 (LWI) – The Executive Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has recommended the termination of the tenure of Kenyan Bishop Walter E. Obare Omwanza as Council adviser after he consecrated a Swedish pastor as bishop of the Mission Province in Sweden.

At its February 19-21 meeting near Geneva, the Executive Committee recommended to the Council "on the basis of the appropriate provisions in the LWF Constitution to terminate the service of Bishop Obare as adviser to the Council." Obare heads the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), one of two LWF member churches in Kenya.

The 13-member committee confirmed it had received the news that Obare consecrated Rev. Arne Olsson as bishop of the Mission Province in Sweden on Saturday, 5 February 2005 in the auditorium of a high school in Gothenburg, Sweden. Olsson is a pastor of Karlstad Diocese, Church of Sweden.

"The consecration took place outside all regulations in the Church of Sweden. This action by Bishop Obare, together with those who assisted him, must be considered as inappropriate interference in the life of a sister church, with negative consequences for the unity of the LWF as a communion of churches as a whole," the committee stated in its recommendation to the Council.

The Executive Committee said the ELCK bishop's action was inconsistent with his role as "adviser to the Council, entrusted with the responsibility to uphold and further the unity of the Lutheran communion." The Council is expected to make a decision on the committee's recommendation at this year's meeting, August 31 - September 6 in Jerusalem.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko told Lutheran World Information (LWI), "Bishop Obare will be invited to attend the Council meeting, which will make the final decision. He may avail himself to address the Council if he so wishes."

Obare, a member of the Program Committee for Theology and Studies, is among 22 representatives from LWF member churches worldwide appointed to serve as advisers to the current Council. Advisers provide professional competence and expertise to the seven Program Committees of the Council. They are full members, with vote in their respective committees. They have voice but no vote in Council plenary sessions.

The Council is LWF's governing body, meeting annually. It consists of the President, who is elected by the Assembly, the Treasurer, who can be elected from among the membership or from outside, and 48 people elected by the Assembly.

http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/LWI/EN/1620.EN.html

Church of Sweden defrocks Mission Province bishop

That's the headline I would put on the latest development in this ongoing story, for which I'm again pinging both the Swedish and the Lutheran ping lists. The following is my translation. CH

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http://www.missionsprovinsen.se/pressmeddelande_2005-02-25.htm

Press release from the Mission Province

Gothenburg and Karlstad
February 25, 2005

As expected, the Cathedral Chapter in Karlstad, in session yesterday, February 24, has taken away from the bishop in the Mission Province, Arne Olsson, the authority to exercise the pastoral office in the Church of Sweden. Arne Olsson was consecrated on February 5 as bishop in the Mission Province. The Cathedral Chapter's justification is that Arne Olsson has violated his pastoral vows which bear upon loyalty to the Church of Sweden's orders, with reference to Church Order 2000, chapter 31, paragraph 12.1.

During the meeting with the Cathedral Chapter, Bishop Arne Olsson put forward the following arguments, among others, in defense of his letting himself be consecrated as bishop in the Mission Province:

- Faithfulness and obedience to the leading paragraph of the Church of Sweden's Church Order, which says that the Bible as God's Word and the Church of Sweden's confession stand over all other orders--this requires action.

- The Mission Province is a part of the Church of Sweden but an order/structure alongside of the Church of Sweden's structure.

- A large group of church people has wanted him as bishop, chosen him, and called on bishops from the worldwide Lutheran church, and through them has installed him as bishop in order to, among other things, ordain such pastors as they have confidence in.

- It is the church's distress which has necessitated this step, inasmuch as the Church of Sweden's bishops no longer follow God's Word/the word of the Bible and furthermore refuse to ordain such ones as pastors who do not in practice fully accept the Church of Sweden's new order for the pastoral office.

- There is a series of examples of how pastors in the Church of Sweden were chosen and consecrated as bishops with a jurisdiction outside the Church of Sweden without for that reason losing the right to exercise the pastoral office in the Church of Sweden.

The decision was expected and we in the Mission Province view with concern and sorrow how the Church of Sweden's leadership step by step marginalizes those who advocate biblical, apostolic faith and genuine Christian life. We believe that the decision does more harm to the Church of Sweden than to the Mission Province.

The best of greetings,
Bengt Birgersson
Province Secretary in the Mission Province

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