Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church
| Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Abbreviation | SELK |
| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Confessional Lutheran |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Leader | Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt |
| Distinct fellowships | Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Lutheran Church - Canada |
| Associations | International Lutheran Council, European Lutheran Conference |
| Region | Germany |
| Origin | 25. June 1972, (Old Lutherans 1830) |
| Branched from | Prussian Lutheran Church |
| Merger of | Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia and other independent West German Lutheran churches (1972) |
| Absorbed | Evangelical-Lutheran (Old-Lutheran) Church of East Germany (1991) |
| Congregations | 200 |
| Members | 35,642 |
| Ministers | 131 Pastors |
| Other name(s) | German: Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche |
| Official website | www |
The Independent Evangelical-Lutheran Church (German: Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche, abbreviated SELK) is a confessional Lutheran church body of Germany. It is a member of the European Lutheran Conference and of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) (of which the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod of North America is also a member). The SELK has about 36,000 members in 200 congregations. The seat of SELK is in Hanover.
In 1817, King Frederick William III of Prussia ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in his territory to unite, forming the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union, a predecessor to today's Union of Evangelical Churches. As the uniting of Lutheran and Reformed Christians in Germany proceeded, some Lutheran groups dissented and formed independent churches, especially in Prussia, Saxony, Hanover and Hesse. These Lutherans held that Reformed doctrine and Lutheran doctrine are contradictory on many points (especially on the nature of the Real Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper), and that such doctrinal differences precluded altar fellowship. So in the 1820s and 1830s Lutherans in Prussia and their congregations formed a new Lutheran church, recognised by the king in 1845 as the Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Preußen (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Prussia). It was seated in Breslau and presided over by the Oberkirchenkollegium (Supreme Church Collegial Body).
The confessional Lutherans were persecuted during the first half of 19th century by the state. Many of them were not allowed to hold church services or have their children baptized or confirmed according to the liturgy of the Lutheran Church. In some areas of Germany, it took decades until the Confessional Lutherans were granted religious freedom.
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