Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland
| Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Orientation | Lutheran |
| Theology | Confessional Lutheran |
| Leader | Bishop Risto Soramies |
| Region | Finland |
| Headquarters | Helsinki |
| Origin | 16 March 2013 |
| Separated from | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland |
| Congregations | 32 |
| Members | 1,842 (end of 2016) |
| http://www.lhpk.fi/en/diocese/statistics/ | |
The Mission Diocese, officially the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, (Finnish: Suomen evankelisluterilainen lähetyshiippakunta, Swedish: Evangelisk-lutherska missionsstiftet i Finland) is an independent confessional Lutheran "ecclesial structure" in Finland. The Mission Diocese considers itself to be "part of ‘the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’" to be "truly a church" and to act "fully independently as a church", although it has not applied for state-recognition as a registered religious community. The Mission Diocese has its origins in the conservative movements of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) and it self-identifies as existing in the same continuum of Lutheran faith and congregational life of the ELCF whose spiritual heritage it cherishes, yet not being part of its administrative structures.
The Mission Diocese was founded in March 2013. Its first bishop, Risto Soramies, was consecrated on 4 May 2013.
The Mission Diocese was founded by the 22 congregations of the Luther Foundation Finland and three other Lutheran congregations in 2013. The Luther Foundation had been established in 1999, starting to celebrate the Divine Service on one location in Helsinki in 2000. By 2004, the Luther Foundation had become a supporting member of the Swedish Mission Province. Bishop Matti Väisänen had been consecrated in 2010 in order to serve the congregations in Finland, which soon led to his being defrocked by the ELCF whose pastor he was. In 2012, the ELCF archbishop expressed his wish that the Luther Foundation establish its own church body. The founding of the Ev. Luth. Mission Diocese of Finland in 2013 marked independence from the Mission Province of Sweden, although contacts remained close. The ELCF continued to defrock its pastors now serving in the Mission Diocese: Bishop Risto Soramies was defrocked on 9 October 2013 and Dean Juhana Pohjola on 5 August 2014. On 8 April 2015, the Cathedral Chapter of the ELCF Archdiocese of Turku defrocked five ELCF pastors for breaking their ordination vows by serving in the Mission Diocese that the ELCF viewed a de facto different church body.
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