History of Lutheranism in Canada
Lutheranism in Canada dates back to 1619 when the Rev. Rasmus Jensen conducted a Lutheran service at Port Churchill, Manitoba, on the Hudson Bay. Jensen was attached to the crew of a bold Lutheran explorer by the name of Jens Munch, who left his native Denmark in search of a northwest passage to Asia.
Later, Lutheran soldiers assisted in the founding of the city of Halifax in 1749-50; and a Lutheran chaplain ministered to the soldiers of General Wolfe at the capture of the fortress of Louisburg on Cape Breton Island in 1758. A Lutheran congregation was organized at Louisburg, Nova Scotia in 1756. The oldest continuing Lutheran congregation in Canada is Zion Lutheran Church, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, founded in 1772. Several waves of immigration brought Lutherans to Ontario. There were United Empire Loyalists from the United States who started the first Lutheran congregation in 1783. In 1793, there were more immigrants from New York state and the period from 1830-1850 saw Lutheran immigrants from Central Europe come to Ontario in large numbers. The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, was organized at Chicago in 1847. It began work in Eastern Canada in 1854. In that year, Pastor John Adam Ernst of Eden, New York, founded the congregation at Delhi and Fisherville, Ontario. In 1879, the Missouri Synod started mission work in Southern Manitoba when the Rev. E. Rolf of St. Paul, Minnesota came to Town Berlin, about 60 miles west of Winnipeg. The work in Western Canada received new impetus in 1890 in the person of Candidate H. Buegel of the St. Louis Seminary. |
With the completion of the CPR in 1885, more immigrants from Europe came to Canada and moved westward. In Alberta and British Columbia, mission work was begun by Candidate Emil E. Eberhardt at Stony Plain, Alberta, near Edmonton in 1922.
Already in the early 1900?s Missouri Synod Lutherans in Canada were thinking of a self-governing Synod. In 1956 the three Districts agreed to form a national corporation and a charter and constitution were drafted. In 1959 the Parliament of Canada granted a charter to Lutheran Church - Canada. When voting was undertaken in 1964, the Ontario District congregations did not support the formation of Lutheran Church - Canada by the required two-thirds majority. Therefore, Lutheran Church - Canada functioned only as a federation of districts in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. In 1985 the three Canadian Districts voted to approve a Constitution and Bylaws. In July 1986, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, meeting in Convention, gave approval for an autonomous Lutheran Church - Canada as a partner church of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. A founding Convention was held in May 1988 and on January 1, 1989, the Lutheran Church - Canada became an autonomous church body. The Lutheran Church - Canada, being conservative in theology and practice, remains a partner of the LC-MS and many other Lutheran Church bodies around the world. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
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