Wondering about Lutherans today...

[RequiemForADisplacedLife]

...and to be more specific, the Lutheran church in Germany.

I'm sure you're all pretty familiar with the ideological tensions in the German Evangelical <Lutheran> church in the period leading up to WWII, and the formation of the Confessing Church by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemöller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller), and others as a protest against the Deutsche Christen sentiment that began to prevail in the churches. So what I'm wondering is - does the Confessing Church still exist? Also, is anyone familiar with the different branches of Lutheranism within Germany?

Thanks for your time, everyone! God bless.

~Jenn :wave:

[Rechtgläubig]

Also, is anyone familiar with the different branches of Lutheranism within Germany?



The only church I know of are these guys (they are in fellowship [communion] with WELS):

http://www.elfk.de/

[IowaLutheran]

...and to be more specific, the Lutheran church in Germany.

I'm sure you're all pretty familiar with the ideological tensions in the German Evangelical <Lutheran> church in the period leading up to WWII, and the formation of the Confessing Church by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemöller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Niem%C3%B6ller), and others as a protest against the Deutsche Christen sentiment that began to prevail in the churches. So what I'm wondering is - does the Confessing Church still exist? Also, is anyone familiar with the different branches of Lutheranism within Germany?

Thanks for your time, everyone! God bless.

~Jenn :wave:

Here is the Protestant Church of Germany (EKD):

http://www.ekd.de/english/2169.html

As far as I know, the "confessing church" was a reaction to the EKD's affiliation with the Nazi regime. After WWII I do not believe it continued to exist as a separate church; presumably those who survived either rejoined the EKD or went to a smaller Lutheran church body.

If you read through this site you will also see that the EKD is an umbrella organization which also has Calvinist churches; my LCMS brothers and sisters probably know the history better than I, but I believe it was this corporate union which led to the immigration of anti-union settlers to the US, who formed the Missouri Synod.

[LutherNut]

The only church I know of are these guys (they are in fellowship [communion] with WELS):

http://www.elfk.de/

Also the SELK (http://www.selk.de/), in fellowship with LCMS.