Religion in Finland - The Evangelical-Lutheran Church

The Evangelical-Lutheran Church

In 2011, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland had less than 4.2 million members, that is 77.2% of the population, registered with a parish. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland is an Episcopal Church with a very strong tradition of parish autonomy. It comprises nine dioceses with ten bishops and 449 independent parishes. The average parish has 7,500 members, with the smallest parishes comprising only a few hundred members and the largest tens of thousands. In recent years many parishes have united in order to safeguard their viability. In addition, municipal mergers have prompted parochial mergers as there may be only one parish, or cluster of parishes, in a given municipality.

The most significant levels of administration are the parish, the diocese, and the church as a whole. The central principle of administration is that each administrative body includes both clergy and lay people, in accordance with the principle of the universal priesthood of believers. With the exception of the diocesan chapters and the Bishops' Conference, all administrative bodies within the church have a clear majority of lay people.

According to a territorial principle, Church members belong to the parish in whose area they live. The basic features in parish administration are a democratic principle combined with a respect for the special position of the clergy. The highest decision-making body within each parish is the parochial council, the members of which are elected every four years in elections which are held at the same time throughout the country. All members of the parish over the age of 18 have the right to vote in parochial council elections. The Church has made a decision in principle to lower the voting age to 16, a change that may come into effect in the parochial elections of 2010.

The supreme decision-making body for the entire church is the Synod, which determines the doctrines, policies and finances of the church. The synod meets twice a year. The Church's common organ for general administrative functions is the Church Council. Its task is to take care of the Church's common administrative, economic and strategic needs. The Bishops' Conference, on the other hand, handles issues relating to the faith, proclamations, and work of the church, as well as those relating to diocesan administration and care.

The dioceses are headed by a bishop and a diocesan chapter. A reform of diocesan administration came into force in 2004. The annual diocesan meeting was replaced with a diocesan council, consisting of 14 lay representatives and 7 clerical representatives. A lay representative acts as the chairperson. The bishop and the members of the diocesan chapter are among those entitled to be present and to take part in discussion. The diocesan council approves the operational and financial plan of the diocese, prepares a budget proposal for the Central Church Fund, and draws up proposals for consideration by the Church Council.

Most of the income of the parishes comes from the Church taxes paid by members. Each member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland pays a certain percentage of his/her income in the form of church tax. Each parish determines its church tax percentage on the basis of its financial situation. The percentage varies from parish to parish, the average being 1.3% in recent years. The parishes also receive part of the corporate tax levied by the state. This is considered in Finland to be a compensation for the societal duties discharged by the Church, for example cemetery maintenance. In 2006, the parishes had income from church tax totaling 763 million euro. The parishes' share of the corporate tax was 109 million euro.

The diverse activities of the Lutheran Church are reflected in the structure of its personnel. It is unlikely that there are many churches in the world where only one in ten employees is a parochial priest. In 2006, the church had 21,400 full or part time employees.

Church rituals which relate to the life-cycle of the individual and the family, along with the social services provided by the church, are the broadest contact areas between the church and parishioners. Lutheran ministers pronounce blessings at 95% of the funerals in Finland and 77.9% of children are baptized into the Church as infants. 83.0% teenagers attend confirmation classes and are confirmed at the age of fifteen. There has been a decrease in the percentage of church weddings, however, as many as 53.0% of couples are married in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

The parishes have also introduced various new rites relating to other transitions in life. For example, the majority of parishes arrange special school blessings for children starting school. One third of 3-5-year-olds also regularly attend children's clubs organized by the parishes. And the Church's other instructional work is very extensive. Even though the Finns are rather lazy churchgoers in comparison with many other countries, most of them claim to attend religious services at least once a year. The more active parishioners also participate in many different types of small-group activities intended for children, young people, and adults.

Over the past few decades a number of reforms have been introduced in the Church. A new translation of the Bible, a new hymnal and a new catechism has been published. A major reform of the content of divine service took place and the Synod formally approved the new Service Book in January 2000 and the reformed liturgy came into use in parishes during Advent in 2000. Confirmation classes have also been reformed.

During the same period the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland started to show far greater awareness of its international responsibilities. This is reflected in increased support for missionary work and development aid and in a greater interest in ecumenical work. The church has a wide network of international contacts. These are officially handled by the Council for International Relations under the chairmanship of the Archbishop. The most far-reaching connections are those that have been forged with inter-church organizations, primarily with the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches. Links with individual churches are strongest with those in the Nordic countries and with the Estonian and Ingrain Lutheran Churches, as well as with the Anglican churches in Great Britain and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is one of the major international NGOs in Finland. It carries out development, relief and interchurch aid on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland and its congregations. FCA channels funds mainly through the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches and ACT (Action by Churches Together). Assistance is given irrespective of the recipient's political orientation, religion, ethnic background or nationality.

In 2005, the missionary organizations of the Lutheran Church were working in a total of 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific region and Europe. They had over 400 missionaries, most of them working in Asia and Africa.