Traditional Pan-Lutheran Unity?

[ASimpleSinner]

It occured to me last night when discussing world Anglicanism with a priest friend of mine that Christians of Lutheran heritage are often similarly considered to be a sort of world-communion… but I began to woner how true that is…

My high school German is pretty much* kaput*, so I largely rely on info I can read in English… But it seems that the Northern European reformed communities that came out of Luther’s protest and reforms do not quite share the same sense of pan-Lutheran unity that the Anglicans do in the sense that as far as I know they do not hold anything coparable to a Lamberth Conference every ten years to discuss different issues and vote on different resolutions.

I am aware that in the US there are no less than three or four Lutheran Synods - the largest being the ELCA, followed by Missouri Synod and then WELS are in the US. The Missouri Synod and WELS are NOT in communion with anyone - not even each other as far as I can tell.

The ELCA is an amalgamation of three synods that came together in 1988 and (at that time) adopted episcopacy… Today they are now in communion with the Episcopal Church.

At any rate my questions:

1. 
   *]How much unity is there now or has there been in world Luthernism, especially between the old state churches of Northern Europe?
   *]Are there gatherings similar to a Lamberth style conferences that bring all bodies in communion with each other together?
   *]How uniform has Lutheran worship been since the reformation? Do they have levels of ritural uniformity like the Anglicans with the BCP? (And yes, I know that example is not great, there is wide latitude there, but the BCP remains a sort of standard.)
   *]Among Anglicans and Orthodox ties to the country of origin remained important in a real way. Was this the case with the immigrant communities of Europe who began synods in the “New World?” I do note that the Swedish immigrants - coming from a state church that claimed apostolic succession and had bishops - did NOT adopt episcopacy as their government model here in the Augustana Synod… Does this speak to an understanding that ties with the original church aren’t as important in the same fashion as it was for some other communities?

 

[ASimpleSinner]

No one?

 

[JMBNH]

The Scandinavian and Baltic Lutheran Churches are all in full communion with each other, but also with the Anglican Communion, but not with the other Lutheran churches. Not sure how this works in practice though other than recognising each others members and ordinations. I know there is a Lutheran World Federation but not sure how that works

 

[ASimpleSinner]

The Scandinavian and Baltic Lutheran Churches are all in full communion with each other, but also with the Anglican Communion, but not with the other Lutheran churches. Not sure how this works in practice though other than recognising each others members and ordinations. I know there is a Lutheran World Federation but not sure how that works

I understand as much… I have been told that a pan-Lutheran unity is not something that has ever really been considered important in the sense of uniform ecclesiologies or even liturgies. I have come to learn that in Austrailia some Lutheran parishes are far more evangelical and have even shunned the use of albs and stoles in favor or worship that looks more Baptist or evangelical.

 

[LutheranDK]

The last question seems to apply to US Lutherans, and I have to admit that I am not that well-versed in American church history, so I am going to leave that one to those more knowledgeable (typo?) than I

As for the others:

1: “How much unity is there now or has there been in world Luthernism, especially between the old state churches of Northern Europe?”

I think there was pretty much unity until Luther’s death in 1546. After that happened - factions who disagreed on how to carry on the Reformation.
There were two major factions:

A: Gnesio-Lutherans, who wanted to stick COMPLETELY to Luther, and who also had ikonoclastic tendencies - along with a total aversion to anything that even smelled like the Roman church. This meant: No chanting, no decorations in the churches, no…argh, what’s the English word…you know - the “robe” the pastor/priest wears?, etc.

B: Filipists
Named after Luther’s close friend and co-reformer Filip Melanchton, who was also the head of the movement. These were more willing to compromise on FORM and liturgy, although NOT on theology. It is characteristic that it were Melanchton who accepted the Emperors invitation to negotiations, in order to heal the divided Germany.

And brothers and sisters from the Roman church - please resist the urge to jest at the expense of the Lutheran church on the topic of division?

2: “Are there gatherings similar to a Lamberth style conferences that bring all bodies in communion with each other together?”

No. Or…well, it depends, I guess
Let me explain:

There are, to my knowledge - but there might be more - two international organisations, trying to bring Lutheran churches together.

A: Lutheran World Federation
(lutheranworld.org/)

By far the largest of the two - this organisation can rightfully be said to be liberal, more worried about political correctness and social injustice, than about keeping doctrine pure, and proclaiming the Gospel - indeed TOLERATES openly anti-biblical pratices within its member churches - such as the ordination of women pastors, blessing homophile relationships, etc.
Therefore, I hesitate very much to actually call it a Lutheran organisation. Luther himself would certainly turn in his grave if he knew what these apostates are saying in his name.
Characteristic for LWF is that it has the large Scandinavian state churches as members - as well as the ELCA.
I suspect that many of the African members of LWF are members because it has more ressources and represents the liberal, wealthy Western churches, and therefore, is a better ally in times of need.

B: International Lutheran Council
(ilc-online.org/pages/default.asp?NavID=69)
A declared confessional international body of Lutheran churches. The LCMS is a member of this one, as is the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church in Denmark.
I don’t know much about the ILC, though, only having learned of it a few weeks ago.’

For both of these, I would think that it is not so much functioning as a synod, but more of an international “parish council meeting” - id est - only patting each other on the back, and offering words of encouragement.

Except that one time when the LWF made an active stance against Apartheit a confessional issue (but left liberal core issues, like the right to murder unborn children, alone).

Another thing I could mention is the fact that the LWF terminated a Kenyan bishop’s tenure as advisor, after he had ordained as a bishop a pastor in the Church of Sweden - because the newly established “Mission province” in Sweden needed a bishop, and could not get one ordained through official channels, due to its biblical stance on the ordination of women pastors.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missionsprovinsen

All in all - the LWF is the lapdog of the political left, and of liberal “theology”.

3: “How uniform has Lutheran worship been since the reformation?”

To my knowledge - not that uniform. Sure, I recognized some parts of the service I was used to when I was in New York and went to an LCMS church in Queens, but my impression is that this similariry (there were also differences) is more of a result of the common background of the Lutheran churches (in the US, Lutherans, as all others, are descendants of European immigrants) in the US and Europe, than any determined decision.

A good example of the un-uniformity of the Lutheran churches, I can take the state church of Denmark. Most other Lutheran churches have 9 confessional writings, namely:
The Three Ecumenical or Universal Creeds
The Augsburg Confession
The Defense of the Augsburg Confession
The Large Catechism
The Small Catechism
The Smalcald Articles
Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope
The Epitome of the Formula of Concord
The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord

The Danish church, however, have only 3 of these - namely
The Ecumenical/Universal Creeds
The Augsburg Confession
Luther’s Small Catechism.

The reason for this is long and complicated, and I will not bore you with it, but just to show you how un-uniform Lutheran practise is.

I hope this didn’t get too long and complicated…but complex questions require complex answers

God bless