Wednesday, December 17, 2025

It is the 17th of December 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Sometimes, when I am teaching at a church on a Sunday, I ask how many different churches the folks in the class passed by on a given Sunday to get where they are. It’s not a question meant to cause division, but rather to point out the sheer variety of church bodies. How many denominations are there? This is fun- I’ve seen the number move between a low of some 200 and a high of 45,000. What?  

Yes- this gets to the issue of church organization- what makes a church, what makes churches unite, divide, do both, but keep a united pension plan for pastors?

This is the prologue to today’s anniversary- the 125th anniversary of a band of Midwestern Norwegian Lutherans coming together to form the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. Maybe this is your church! Maybe you know a CLB member. Here at the Almanac in particular, but 1517 generally, we have a number of Lutheran Brethren… err… Brethren and Sistren… fellow believers who are celebrating the Quasquicentennial (that’s 125th) birthday of their denomination.  

The Church of the Lutheran Brethren comes out of the church of the Lutheran Reformation in Norway, a peculiar one in that it was implemented “from above” in the 1530s, with the loss of Norwegian sovereignty and becoming a province of Denmark. Having the princes implement the Reformation made for smooth sailing from an administrative level, but it didn’t have the popular foundation of other Reformations.

By the 18th century, there were cracks in the Norwegian church- a disconnect between the “state” church and the individual believers. Revival would come about with the likes of Hans Neilsen Hauge and Elling Eielsen- the so-called “Father of the Norwegian Church in America”. By the late 1800s, there were at least six Norwegian Lutheran church bodies in America trying to navigate issues of identity between Norwegian and American and Lutheran and Christian. These groups would regroup and rearrange into a kind of “United” church body. As is often the case with “united” church bodies, they can lead to an institutional unity- but with disparate churches feeling more isolated and independent than before. Such was the case with five Lutheran congregations that met on this day, 125 years ago, in Milwaukee to form the Church of the Lutheran Brethren.  

“Brethren” might stick out to you- it is a title often used by churches coming out of the more radical traditions- those that would emphasize the autonomy of the local congregation over a church hierarchy.

Coming out of a general “revival” in the Midwest in the late 19th century, this church would emphasize the historic creeds and the Augsburg confession (unaltered, but not with the whole collection of documents that make up the Book of Concord). Their general distinctiveness from other Lutheran church bodies came in their acceptance of a pre-millennial kingdom on earth and open communion. The “pre-millennial” doctrines- Jesus returns and sets up a “temporary” kingdom, ushering in a thousand-year reign, and then the “end times”- fit with much of the emerging American evangelical church. “Open” communion does not refer to communion being offered to anyone, but rather to confessing Christians, even if not in complete agreement as to the nature of Christ’s presence.

The story of the Church of the Lutheran Brethren is more than just theological differences- but one of practice. Tim Mathieson, the current director of communications for this church body, wrote that they “grew out of feeling isolated and alone, they also wanted to do together what they couldn’t do on their own: send missionaries and provide Christian education, and eventually plant churches.” 

And this is perhaps their primary mark on the larger church. There are some 125 CLB churches in North America, but that is dwarfed by their 1500 daughter congregations from Cameroon to Chad, Japan, and Taiwan. Twelve times, the churches outside of North America seem to indicate that their mission focus has been successful. Alongside the mission organizations, the CLB has its seminary in Fergus Falls as well as the Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in Fergus Falls- and of course, here at 1517, our own Erik Sorensen is CLB-bred, as are our friends Katie Koplin and Gretchen Ronnevik at the Freely Given podcast.

Happy Quasquicentennial to the Church of the Lutheran Brethren on this, the 17th of December.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and a good minor prophet Advent reading from Zechariah 8:

2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

3 This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

4 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. 5 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

6 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 17th of December 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man with Missourian roots, but who could destroy a plate of krumkaka… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who will be with the Scandinavians in Alexandria, Minnesota, at Mt. Carmel in February… it should be warm, right? I’m  Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.