The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church, or the Free Church as it is commonly known, is a nationwide Lutheran church in Norway consisting of 81 congregations and 21,817 baptized members. It was founded in 1877 in Moss. It should not be confused with the Church of Norway, though both churches are members of the Lutheran World Federation. The Free Church is economically independent.
The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church is founded on the Bible and the Lutheran Church's confession. In the Free Church it is those who are baptized and confess the Christian faith who have the voting power. It has the authority to call its clergy and all other personnel, and it passes its own laws.
Famous quotes containing the words evangelical, free, church and/or norway:
“Chastity is a monkish and evangelical superstition, a greater foe to natural temperance even than unintellectual sensuality.”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
“I will never accept that I got a free ride. It wasn’t free at all. My ancestors were brought here against their will. They were made to work and help build the country. I worked in the cotton fields from the age of seven. I worked in the laundry for twenty- three years. I worked for the national organization for nine years. I just retired from city government after twelve-and-a- half years.”
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“If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they’d realise that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose.”
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“A long time you have been making the trip
From Havre to Hartford, Master Soleil,
Bringing the lights of Norway and all that.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)