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Risto Soramies

Finland hosts Nordic bishops’ conference

by | Feb 28, 2025

Participants in meetings of the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.. Back: LCMS Regional Director for Eurasia, Rev. David Preus; ELMDF Bishop Juhana Pohjola; and ELMDF Dean Joel Kerosuo. Front: ELMDF Bishop Emeritus Risto Soramies; DELSIN Bishop Thor Henrik With; Lutheran Foundation Bishop Emeritus Maati Väisänen; and MPS Bishop Bengt Ådahl.

FINLAND – On February 5, the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (Suomen evankelisluterilainen Lähetyshiippakunta – ELMDF) hosted a meeting of bishops from the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.

Participating in the meetings were Bishop Thor Henrik With of the Evangelical-Lutheran Diocese in Norway (Det evangelisk-lutherske stift i Norge – DELSIN); Bishop Bengt Ådahl of the Mission Province in Sweden (Missionsprovinsen i Sverige – MPS); and ELMDF Bishop Juhana Pohjola, as well as his predecessors Bishop Emeritus Risto Soramies and Bishop Emeritus Maati Väisänen.

Also participating in the meetings were the ELMDF’s Diocesan Dean Joel Kerosuo and Rev. David Preus, Regional Director for Eurasia for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).

Conversations during meetings of the bishops from the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses.

“Gatherings like these are an important way to keep each other apprised of current events in our church bodies and to pray for each other and express the unity we have in shared confession,” said ELMDF Bishop Pohjola. “May God continue to strengthen our ties as we bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this part of the world.”

Among other business, Bishop Pohjola noted, the meeting saw the church leaders discuss the office of bishop in the light of their churches’ shared Lutheran confession, as well as how the extra-congregational ministry of oversight is all about the Word and Sacrament ministry—sending men through ordination to serve at the pulpits and altars of local congregations, and to shepherd by visitation those who already serve. Discussion also noted how the office has sometimes become a cause of division in the Church for the sake of personal ambition or tolerance of false doctrine. It is important that bishops—through the office entrusted to them—support the common mission and unity of the Church across national borders, remaining faithful to the words of the OverShepherd.

The ELMDF, DELSIN, MP, and LCMS are all member churches of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of Lutheran church bodies and groups, dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of a shared commitment to the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

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ILC issues invitation to Scandinavian Mission Provinces; Chairman Voigt visits Finland

by | Sep 11, 2014

Participants in the 2014 meeting in Helsinki.

Participants in the 2014 meeting in Helsinki.

FINLAND – Following an invitation from the Bishops’ Conferences of the Mission Provinces of Sweden, Finland, and Norway, Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt visited Helsinki as chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and as presiding bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Germany.

During the meeting, Bishop Voigt made two introductory presentations. In the morning he reported on the history and the purpose of the ILC. He pointed to the fact that many member churches of the ILC were founded as a result of the Lutheran confessional renewal in the 19th century; others resulted as a gathering of Lutheran refugees and settlers in the 19th and 20th century as Mission Churches.

In the course of the discussion, Bishop Voigt issued an invitation to the Scandinavian Mission Provinces to begin discussions with the Executive Committee of the ILC about the possibility and the modalities of membership in this global organization. At the same time, he expressed his understanding of the pastoral practice of the mission dioceses in not urging individual members of their parishes to leave their respective Lutheran state churches, but rather to bear those tensions that a struggle for the true unity of the church imposes.

In a further presentation during the afternoon session, Bishop Voigt spoke on developments and special challenges currently facing SELK. In the subsequent discussion he indicated his pleasant surprise to discover parallels between the Old Lutheran revival movements in Germany in the 19th century and the present-day developments in the Scandinavian mission provinces.

Bishop Risto Soramies of the hosting Evangelical Lutheran Mission Province of Finland thanked the participants for the meeting. He expressed his hope that contacts with the ILC and the member churches can be developed and intensified in the future.

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SELK-News Service

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