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Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) (French: Eglise Evangelique Lutherienne au Canada) is Canada's largest Lutheran denomination, with 182,077 baptized members in 624 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches, and the World Council of Churches.

History

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada came into being in 1986 through the merger of two predecessor bodies the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada (started in 1966 by Canadian congregations of the American Lutheran Church) and three synods of the Lutheran Church in America, called the Canada Section. In 1988 these two US church bodies ceased to exist as they merged into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCIC's sister denomination in the United States.

Constituting Convention

  • 1985 Winnipeg, Manitoba

National Conventions

  • 1987 Ottawa, Ontario
  • 1989 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
  • 1991 Edmonton, Alberta
  • 1993 Vancouver, British Columbia
  • 1995 Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 1997 Toronto, Ontario
  • 1999 Regina, Saskatchewan
  • 2001 Waterloo, Ontario
  • 2003 Camrose, Alberta
  • 2005 Winnipeg, Manitoba
  • 2007 Winnipeg, Manitoba

Doctrine

The Church derives its teachings from the Bible and the Book of Concord which includes the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian Church--that is, the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada under the Waterloo Declaration. The Waterloo Lutheran Seminary and Lutheran Theological Seminary, Saskatoon are the seminaries owned by the church.

Organisation

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is composed of five synods (similar to a diocese in Anglican polity). The presiding officer and chief pastor of each synod is a bishop.

This structure is identical to the synod structure of the ELCA, except that the Canadian synods cover one or more entire provinces, whereas some ELCA synods cover the whole or part of a metro area and some cover several states. Like the ELCA a presiding bishop serves as its head, but in the ELCIC, this bishop is known as the "National Bishop."

National Bishops

  • Rev. Donald Sjoberg, 1986-1993
  • Rev. Telmor Sartison, 1993-2001
  • Rev. Raymond Schultz, 2001-2007
  • Rev. Canon Susan Johnson, 2007-

Same-sex unions

In 2006, the Eastern Synod voted to allow individual pastors and congregations to conduct blessing of same-sex unions, prompting a dispute between the synod and the national church over which body has the authority to make such a decision. The national church had previously voted against blessings, and the ELCIC's full communion partner, the Anglican Church of Canada, had voted to defer a decision. National Bishop Raymond Schultz said: "The Officers of this church will bring a recommendation to NCC [National Church Council] regarding the legality of the Eastern Synod resolution at the September 15-16, 2006 meeting to be held in Winnipeg...It would be advisable for congregations considering the blessing of same gender couples to wait until NCC has made a ruling on this matter before proceeding further." The Council agreed that Eastern Synod had exceeded its authority, but adopted a motion enabling the local option, which was defeated at the 2007 National Convention.

On June 23, 2007, at its National Convention, the ELCIC voted, by a 200-181 vote margin, against authorizing the Synods to permit the blessing of same-sex unions

The Eastern Synod Council, while affirming its jurisdiction in the matter, agreed not to proceed with the blessing of same-sex unions for the time being.

External links



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Last updated on Wednesday March 12, 2008 at 00:05:21 PDT (GMT -0700)
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