Lutheran Free Church

The Lutheran Free Church (LFC) was a Lutheran denomination that existed in the United States from 1897 to 1963 mainly in Minnesota and North Dakota. However the church history predates its official start and a breakaway group of congregations continues today under the LFC legacy.

Georg Sverdrup and Sven Oftedal were two professors at Augsburg Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the 1870s. They had been concerned with hierarchy within the Christian church and study of the Bible. They believed that, according to the New Testament of the Bible, the local congregation was the correct form of God's kingdom on earth. Their vision was for a church that:
*Promoted a "living" Christianity,
*Emphasized an evangelism that would result in changed lives,
*Enabled the church member to exercise their spiritual gifts.

In 1890 the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America was formed by three Lutheran church bodies that included the Conference of the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Augsburg was the school of the "Conference" and thus Sverdrup and Oftedal.

A dispute within the UNLC over which school Augsburg or St. Olaf should be the college of the church body lead in 1893 to the creation of the Friends of Augsburg. By 1896, Sverdrup, Oftedal and others felt their beliefs of a "free church in a free land" were being compromised and broke away from the UNLC, forming the Lutheran Free Church in 1897.

By the 1950s, however there was a growing movement by many Lutherans throughout the United States to join their many small Lutheran bodies into larger body. The Lutheran Free Church joined the American Lutheran Church on February 1, 1963 after three votes (1955, 1957 and 1961). The ALC in time also joined with other Lutheran churches and, in 1988, formed the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

About 40 Lutheran Free Churches however did not join the ALC, instead forming the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations in October 1962. Today the AFLC has more than 250 congregations.

The LFC's publishing house was Messenger Press and its official English language magazine was the "Lutheran Messenger" started in 1918. The church also had for most of its earlier history a Norwegian language publication "Folkebladet" (the People's Paper).

Presidents of the LFC

Annual Conferences

*1897 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1898 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1899 Dalton, Minnesota
*1900 Montevideo, Minnesota
*1901 Willmar, Minnesota
*1902 Audubon, Minnesota
*1903 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1904 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1905 Willmar, Minnesota
*1906 Battle Lake, Minnesota
*1907 Fargo, North Dakota
*1908 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1909 Montevideo, Minnesota
*1910 Valley City, North Dakota
*1911 Willmar, Minnesota
*1912 Thief River Falls, Minnesota
*1913 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1914 Brainerd, Minnesota
*1915 Marinette, Wisconsin
*1916 Willmar, Minnesota
*1917 Fargo, North Dakota
*1918 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1919 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1920 Thief River Falls, Minnesota
*1921 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1922 Fargo, North Dakota
*1923 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1924 Northfield, Minnesota
*1925 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1926 Willmar, Minnesota
*1927 Fargo, North Dakota
*1928 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1929 Thief River Falls, Minnesota
*1930 Fergus Falls, Minnesota
*1931 Fargo, North Dakota
*1932 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1933 Willmar, Minnesota
*1934 Duluth, Minnesota
*1935 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1936 Fargo, North Dakota
*1937 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1938 Thief River Falls, Minnesota
*1939 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1940 La Crosse, Wisconsin
*1941 Morris, Minnesota
*1942 Fargo, North Dakota
*1943 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1944 Willmar, Minnesota
*1945 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1946 Fargo, North Dakota
*1947 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1948 Willmar, Minnesota
*1949 Morris, Minnesota
*1950 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1951 Seattle, Washington
*1952 Fargo, North Dakota
*1953 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1954 Thief River Falls, Minnesota
*1955 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1956 Fargo, North Dakota
*1957 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1958 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1959 Minot, North Dakota
*1960 Fargo, North Dakota
*1961 Minneapolis, Minnesota
*1962 Minneapolis, Minnesota

References

*Eugene L. Fevold, "The Lutheran Free Church: A Fellowship of American Lutheran Congregations 1897-1963" (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1969)

*Loiell Dyrud, "The Quest for Freedom: The Lutheran Free Church to The Association of Free Lutheran Congregations" (Minneapolis: Ambassador Publications, 2000)

*Clarence J. Carlsen, "The Years of Our Church" (Minneapolis: The Lutheran Free Church Publishing Company, 1942) (pdf link below)

External links

* [http://www.aflc.org/pdf's/yearsofourchurch.pdf PDF file of "The Years of Our Church",a 1941 book about the LFC history from www.aflc.org]