Norwegian Church to Support Constitutional Proposal to Change Relations with State Structures

Structures Have Implications for Identity, Says LWF General Secretary Junge

The process has started in Norway to end a 500-year state-church tradition of the King/Government appointing bishops. A constitutional change in May 2012 will shift the responsibility for the appointment of bishops of Church of Norway from the state to the church.

At its 12-17 April meeting, the 116-member Church of Norway General Synod comprising bishops, pastors and lay church members adopted the new order for appointing bishops. This decision is seen as the beginning of the loosening of historical ties between institutions of state and the majority Lutheran church, which date back to the 16th century.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, who was visiting LWF member churches in Norway and Denmark during discussions on traditional church-state ties, said structural changes have important implications for the overall identity of each church and its relation to other churches, including within the Lutheran communion.

Addressing the Church of Norway General Synod, Junge said that while the “redefinition of the relationship between the Church of and the State of Norway” was a very significant change with structural implications, it “entails also a revision of the coordinates within which the church locates itself.” These changes, he noted, “raise important questions about the inherited and the intended identity of this church.”

Junge emphasized LWF’s role in accompanying churches in processes of significant change. The LWF has arrived at a point today, where it has realized that there “is no longer a church so old, so strong, so well endowed that it can’t still be at the receiver’s end; and that there is no church so new, so vulnerable and in such scarcity of resources that it can’t be still at the giver’s end. This is the core of what it means to be in communion with each other,” the general secretary told the synod.

In Norway, Lutheran bishops have been appointed by the king. Over the past two decades, discussions have resulted in several reforms, including a 2008 Parliament (Storting) agreement to institute procedures that would lead to loosening the ties between church and state. Under the new proposal the church would appoint the bishops. However they will still be regarded as civil servants.

Danish Lutheran Church

In Denmark where Junge met with the Minister for Church Affairs Manu Sareen, the state official said there was complete openness from the ministry regarding the structures that should govern the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark in the future. The government, he added, would receive in an open manner proposals from a committee that will be appointed to study the future governance of the Danish Lutheran church.

The Danish constitution defines the Lutheran church as “a church of the people” which is supported and governed by state law. However, this law has never been defined despite attempts by several ministers of church affairs.

At a 16 April conference called by Minister Sareen, church and state representatives discussed the division of power between state and church. Participants agreed the new governance structure should be within the framework of the Danish constitution, but not a separation between church and state.

The Danish and Norwegian churches are founding members of the LWF, representing nearly 4.5 million and 3.8 million members respectively. (563 words)

(With contribution from Church of Norway Information)