Rocket Church in Skane Sweden
Typical Church - Trelleborg, Sweden
The Church of Sweden (Swedish: Svenska kyrkan, Northern Sami: Ruoŧa girkui) is the largest church in Sweden. The Church of Sweden professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With almost 6.9 million members, It is the largest Lutheran church in the World. Until 2000 it held the position of state church. As of 2006 75.6% of the Swedes were members of the church. However, only approximately 2% of the church’s members regularly attend Sunday services. This is a photo of a typical church in Sweden.
Gustav I Vasa instigated the Church of Sweden in 1536 during his reign as King of Sweden. This act separated the church from the Roman-Catholic Church and abandoned canon law. In 1572, the Swedish Church Ordinance became the first Swedish church order following the Reformation.
The Church joined the Lutheran faith at the Uppsala Synod in 1593 when it adopted the Augsburg Confession to which most Lutherans adhere. At this synod, it was decided that the Church would retain the three original Christian creeds: the Apostles’ Creed, the Athanasian Creed and the Nicene Creed.
In 1686, the Parliament of Sweden adopted the Book of Concord, although only certain parts labeled Confessio fidei were considered binding, and the other texts merely explanatory. Confessio dei included the three aforementioned Creeds, the Augsburg Confession and two Uppsala Synod decisions from 1572 and 1593.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, a variety of teachings were officially approved, mostly directed towards ecumenism:
* 1878 development of the Catechism,
* the Uppsala creed of 1909, preparing for the Eucharist communion with Church of England,
* the constitutions of World Council of Churches (WCC),
* the constitutions of Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
* Church of Sweden’s official answer to the “Lima document”,
* a Council of the Bishops Letter in Important Theological Questions,
* the treaty of 1995 of communion with Philippine Independent Church, and
* the Porvoo Communion of 1996.
In practice, however, the Lutheran creed texts play a minor role, and instead the parishes rely on Lutheran tradition in coexistence with influences from other Christian denominations and diverse ecclesial movements such as Low Church, High Church, Pietism (“Old Church”) and Laestadianism, who locally might be strongly established, but who have little nation-wide influence.
During the 20th century the Church of Sweden has oriented itself strongly towards liberal Christianity and human rights. Since 1958, women are ordained priests, and since 1994, men who oppose collaboration with women priests are not allowed ordination. Same-sex marriages are blessed and are under consideration for acceptance
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