Conservatives in liberal churches

Conservatives in liberal churches October 16, 2015

The state churches in Scandinavia are theologically liberal, sometimes to an extreme.  For example, in the Church of Sweden the world’s first lesbian bishop called on a congregation to remove its crosses to encourage Muslims to pray there.  Read this.  Notice, though, the opposition to her remarks and how the bishop has no authority over the congregation, since it was established by a “mission” organization.  The point is, there are conservative Christians with orthodox pastors and congregations within those state churches.

When I was in Denmark, I met a number of pastors from the Church of Denmark who came to my lectures.  They were in tune with what I was saying.  I was told that many towns had a conservative congregation along with a liberal congregation, with the former typically filled with worshippers with the latter being almost empty.

Denmark has a “religious freedom” law that applies to pastors.  I suspect the law was originally intended to protect liberal pastors back when the hierarchy was conservative.  But today it protects conservative pastors.  They don’t have to preside over gay marriages or do anything else that conflicts with their theological convictions.  It isn’t that way in Sweden and Finland, where conservative pastors sometimes are given a hard time.  (The Scandinavia House in Ft. Wayne tracks those conflicts.)  Norway has disestablished its state church, in the sense of having an official national religion, though it will still receive the church tax and report to a government agency.  And yet Inner Mission is said to be the strongest in Noway, which, I was told, had more overt Christians than the other Scandinavian countries.)

I had an interesting conversation with one Danish pastor.  He expressed his unhappiness with the theological state of the over all church but said that he tries to stay out of the arguments.  “I just tend my sheep,” he said.  He is working hard to catechize them and give them pastoral care.  Whereas the other parish in his town has a typical worship attendance of about 4, he has 90, “and we are growing.”

He thinks highly of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and uses their materials.  He said that he would like to become more involved with the LCMS–such as send his young people to a Higher Things conference–but he knows he can’t, due to our fellowship rules, with which he expressed great frustration.  Indeed, though he is probably closer to our positions than some of the pastors within our synod, we Missouri Synod Lutherans can’t have altar and pulpit fellowship with him because he is a pastor in the Church of Denmark.

Question:  The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod approaches fellowship issues in terms of the church body a person is affiliated with.  And yet, isn’t it true that, according to Missouri Synod ecclessiology, Christ’s church is to be found in the local congregation (which “walks with” other congregations to form the larger church organization)? Given that we should only commune with those with whom we are in agreement, shouldn’t we attend to the congregation’s confession or to the individual’s confession, rather than in terms of membership in an organization, whose members may or may not agree with its official positions?

At any rate, the dilemma of the conservative in a liberal denomination occurs in the United States too.  There are ELCA pastors and congregations that are very solid.  The same is true in the other mainline Protestant denominations, with Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc.  Even Roman Catholics often must choose between a liberal and a conservative parish.  Then there are conservatives in liberal congregations, who face trials of their own. The difference in the United States is that, if things get really bad, it is possible to leave to another denomination, or to start a new one.  That’s not so easy in other countries.  Often, there is no other place to go.

We should support the free church and mission districts that the LCMS is in fellowship with in countries with state churches.  But what will bring Christian renewal to Denmark and similar countries is more conservative congregations and more conservative pastors within the state church.  And that seems to be happening.

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