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Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (Germany)
The present state of Bavaria began to be
Christianized by Boniface, the missionary bishop, and others in the eighth century. Slowly
the faith took root, and the church and its institutions became firmly implanted. In the
Franconian area, Nuremberg became a commercial crossroads during the Middle Ages and a
free imperial city.
The Lutheran Reformation became fully
established in Nuremberg by 1524. In 1530, the city of Augsburg gave its name of the major
Lutheran confession. Seventeenth-century theological orthodoxy, the Thirty Years' War
(1618-1648), Pietism, and the Napoleonic era each left their various marks on Lutheranism.
The modern state of Bavaria was formed in
1806 when some 90 political units merged into the kingdom of Bavaria. The Roman Catholic
king became nominal head of the Lutherans in Bavaria by the principle that the political
ruler is also head of the Protestant church. The church constitution of 1818 laid the
basis for a Protestant community under a governing consistory. In the process, a Lutheran
confessional emphasis developed.
During the early 19th century, a renewed
Lutheranism responded to an appeal on behalf of thousands of spiritually neglected German
immigrants in North America. Wilhelm Löhe was an outstanding leader in sending
missionaries to North America. During the 20th century, Bavarian Lutheran leaders have
been instrumental in founding the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (of which
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria is a member) and the Lutheran World Federation.
A stronghold of confessional Lutheranism in a
predominantly Roman Catholic state, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Bavaria (ELCB) comprises 1515 parishes with a total of more than 2.7 million
members. About 23 percent of Bavaria's population is Lutheran, and about 60 percent of
Bavaria's Lutherans reside in the northern part, Franconia, in rural villages as well in
the Nuremburg and other urban areas. Bavarian Lutheranism has its own diaspora, or
dispersion, including people in cities like Munich and Augsburg. This combination of being
at once concentrated and deployed has given the ELCB its characteristic concern for
confessional unity near and far.
Worship in Bavarian Lutheran churches has
long valued the liturgy and hymns as integral to preaching the Word and administering the
sacraments. In education, a strong accent remains on confirmation instruction, religious
education in the public schools, and work among young people. The practice of a diaconal
year of service by young women was introduced in the 1950s.
As with other churches in Germany, support is
gathered for the church by the government's fiscal office as a surcharge on income tax.
Voluntary offerings for special purposes, such as for mission, are received in the
congregations. Most of the pastors are educated in the two Bavarian university faculties
of theology, Erlangen and Munich, and in the church's Augustana Hochschule in
Neuendettelsau. The church maintains other teaching institutions for training deacons and
deaconesses and other church workers. The church's Department of World Mission
is one of many companions with the ELCA in global mission.
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