wfn.org | Iceland: Lutheran Pastors Stand ready to Serve Anglicans

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Iceland: Lutheran Pastors Stand ready to Serve Anglicans because
of 'Porvoo'
Too many Young Theologians in Iceland

REYKJAVIK, Iceland/GENEVA, 11 March 2002 (LWI) - The Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Iceland (ELCI) may be ready to serve Anglicans
in Britain and Ireland as needed, because of an oversupply of
young theologians. Rev. Dr. Sigurdur Ami Thordarson of Reykjavik,
who heads ELCI's Division for Theologv and Society and serves as a
member of the Porvoo Agreement Contact Group, explains in this
special article.*

Traditionally the Icelanders have been recipients of English
culture and church. For centuries various books were translated
from English into Icelandic. Monasteries and later universities
welcomed Icelandic travelers and students. These have brought
parts and pieces of Anglican Christianity to Iceland. This
spiritual export has been mostly one-sided. Could this change?

The ELCI and Anglican churches in Britain and Ireland were brought
closer together by the Porvoo Agreement. Two Lutheran Icelanders
have served Church of England parishes near Scunthorpe in the
Lincoln Diocese: Rev. Thorir Jokull Thorsteinsson served nine
months in 1998-99; Rev. Bjarni Thor Bjarnason served 17 months in
1999-2001. No Anglican pastor has served in Iceland so far.

The Anglican church is having problems with recruiting pastors but
the ELCI has an oversupply of young theologians who could be
deployed to England. Will Icelandic pastors serve Anglican
churches all over the world in great numbers? Some information
about the ELCI and its development may be useful.

Openness in Ecumenism

The character of the ecumenical self-understanding of the ELCI is
probably best described by the term "openness." For centuries the
church was the only one in the country. It was a national church
in a homogeneous culture and was spared any strained
ecclesiastical relationships or competition. Due to this the
bishops and pastors of the national church have been willing to
help sister churches by allowing them to use ELCI buildings,
including churches, for their services. Anglicans, Roman
Catholics, Russian Orthodox and some Reformed churches have been
blessed by this hospitality.

This openness has found its organizational expression as well. The
ELCI was a founding member of the Lutheran World Federation
(1947), the World Council of Churches (1948) and the Conference of
European Churches (1964). The ELCI participated in the talks that
led to the 1995 signing of the Porvoo Agreement. This resulted in
the Porvoo Communion, linking Nordic and Baltic Lutherans with
British and Irish Anglicans.

Church Membership in Iceland

More than 87 percent of Iceland's 277,906 people belong to the
ELCI. Other groups, each with less than two percent of the
population, include Evangelical Lutheran "free churches," Roman
Catholics, Seventh-day Adventists, Pentecostals and a few
charismatic and Calvinist churches. Membership in the ELCI, the
national church, has been dropping, but most of those who leave
have joined one of the evangelical Lutheran churches.

Local ecumenism in Iceland is rather uncomplicated, as the number
of members of other churches is very limited. Church leaders know
each other and can work as bridge-builders. Confessional
discussions seldom arise, and ecumenical questions are handled by
a committee for promoting inter-church relations.

Profile of the Church of Iceland

Christianity came to Iceland from Ireland in the ninth century.
Missionaries from Scotland and Norway also followed. The
Reformation brought Lutheranism to Iceland in the mid-sixteenth
century. Because Iceland was part of Denmark until 1944, church
life has been ordered in line with Danish legislation. The
Lutheran Confessions form the basis of ELCI's theology and life.

Episcopal oversight has been practiced in the ELCI from the
beginning. The apostolic succession was broken during the
Reformation due to changes in Denmark where Icelandic bishops were
ordained at the time. The issue of succession is not particularly
important within the ELCI. The Porvoo Declaration was signed and
its theology has been accepted. The 247,245-member ELCI has one
diocese which is divided into 15 deaneries. Women are represented
at all levels of leadership except the episcopal one. The majority
of deacons are women. The first woman was ordained as a pastor in
1974. Women now make up the majority of theology students.

(*Used with permission from 'The Window,' the newsletter of the
Anglican-Lutheran Society. The LWF President and Archbishop of
Canterbury serve as the Society's patrons.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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