History of the AFLC
Rooted in Revival.....
Around the beginning of the 1800's, a Norwegian farmer's son, a layman, began tramping over the mountains and valleys of the country preaching a message of repentance and personal salvation. HANS NIELSEN HAUGE was immediately branded a troublemaker by the government and the state church, and spent 10 years in prison. The fire the Lord lit through him, however, could not be stifled.
Hauge's message and ministry reflected the spirit of LUTHERAN PIETISM, a powerful movement of awakening that began among German Lutherans in the late 17th century, led by PHILIP SPENER and AUGUST FRANCKE. The pietistic emphasis on personal faith, godly living and study of Scripture caught fire among the common people, igniting a spiritual and social revolution whose impact is still evident today. A subsequent wave of awakening in Norway, often associated with the ministry of a theological professor, GISLE JOHNSON, is especially remembered for its influence on a new generation of pastors, ensuring that this renewal would be perpetuated within the church.
Revival fires also burned brightly in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, under the godly leadership of such men as CARL OLOF ROSENIUS, PAAVO RUOTSALAINEN, and WILHELM BECK. These evangelical movements shaped the convictions of many of the Lutherans who planted the church in America.
Thousands of Scandinavian pietists emigrated to the United States to find a better life during the 19th Century. They brought their faith and live of education with them, and they wanted to make sure their children had schools where they could be trained in God's Word and useful skills. Many Lutheran colleges and seminaries which exist today began at this time.
Among those institutions was Augsburg College in Minneapolis, which in those days also comprised a preparatory school, an academy and a seminary. Two scholars from prominent Haugean families in Norway came to Augsburg to teach in the 1870's, bringing with them a genuinely radical view of Christian education, centered on Scripture and the simple doctrines of Christianity. Their names were GEORG SVERDRUP and SVEN OFTEDAL.
These two young professors, having witnessed firsthand the opposition of the church hierarchy to the revival movements, had been driven in their frustration to take a fresh look at the New Testament church. Through their study of Scripture, they had come to a stunning conclusion:
"...in the New Testament there is no talk about any bishopric...nor any church council, or synod...There is a congregation in each place where there are Christians, and this congregation has its elders or bishops; but there is no 'church rulership' of any sort..." - Georg Sverdrup
In other words, the local congregation is the right form of God's kingdom on earth, and no power but God's Word and Spirit may dictate to it.
This conviction was not only a matter of church government, but a vision of "living" Christianity. The church they sought to plant in the New World would promote a living Lutheran orthodoxy, served by shepherds who lead rather than overlords who dominate, emphasizing an evangelism that would result in changed lives and encourage lay people to exercise their spiritual gifts.
In 1890 several groups merged to form the United Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. The friends of Augsburg felt uncomfortable in this union, believing their principles were being undermined. In 1896 twelve congregations were expelled from the merged church for their support of Augsburg, which had been determined on court to be a private corporation not subject to control by the new church body. In 1897 a group of like-minded congregations committed to Augsburg's principles established the LUTHERAN FREE CHURCH. This group drafted a set of FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES which would guide their operations.
Momentum came on the form of a tremendous spiritual revival which swept the Norwegian Lutheran churches during the 1890's. Many students came to Augsburg as a direct result of it, and through the work of pastors who graduated from the seminary the Lutheran Free Church began to expand beyond its initial concentration in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota to other areas of the U.S. and Canada.
In time however the vision grew dim, and a new generation of leadership began to question the future of the Lutheran Free Church. They encouraged participation in a new merger, which produced the American Lutheran Church (1960). It took three referenda before the necessary votes were gathered from LFC congregations, and approval was only gained in 1962, not without much conflict and even litigation.
In October, 1962, representatives of approximately 70 LFC congregations resistant to the merger gathered in Thief River Falls, Minnesota to form what became the ASSOCIATION OF FREE LUTHERAN CONGREGATIONS, founded on the Fundamental Principles of the Lutheran Free Church.
"Our congregations need to be set free, which is essentially the same as saying that they need to be awakened or revived... When God's Spirit comes upon a congregation, the first and most pronounced effect will be a living zeal for the salvation of souls... When those who have themselves been set free from the bonds of death, arise in the power through which Christ arose from the dead, and begin to labor for the awakening of others, then freedom has dawned in truth. Then bonds are broken, other considerations are brushed aside, and only one thing matters: How can we get those who sleep awakened, how can we get those who are dying saved, how can we get those who are bound set free, how can we get someone along with us on the way to eternal life?" - Georg Sverdrup