What is the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Mission?
Historical overview
The roots of FLEM (Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Mission) can be found in the Evangelical revival movement in Finland, which grew out of the Finnish pietistic awakening movement in 1840. This awakening was influenced by the spirituality of German Moravian Brethren, also known as the Herrnhut movement. The Herrnhut movement was a Christian community that originated in Germany in 1722 and it was founded by Count Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf and is deeply rooted in personal faith, piety, lay leadership, community life and missionary work.
The characteristics of the Finnish awakening at the 1900 focused on humble living, encouraging faith in the life of individuals and empowering poor people to follow Christ. The movement followed the Lutheran theological tradition and emphasized that faith and salvation are acts of God: Humans cannot contribute anything to their salvation. God is powerful and human beings are weak. Along with these Augustinian and Lutheran core ideas was an emphasis on humility, piety and a hopeful anticipation of salvation. Certainty of one’s salvation was often seen as spiritual pride.
In the 1840s there were ruptures in the movement and a breakaway group led by pastor Gabriel Hedberg formed the ”Evangelical” awakening movement. Hedberg opposed the solemn spirituality of pietism and in contrast emphasized a joyful certainty of salvation as the "possession” of faith. The foundation of this spirituality he found in the Word of God concerning the complete forgiveness from all sins accomplished by Christ on behalf of all people on the cross of Calvary, and the gift of the forgiveness of sins given in holy baptism. Hedberg’s concept of faith has been characterized by the terms "immediate faith” (one can immediately believe in Jesus) and the certainty of being "already-perfect and righteous” in the salvific work of Christ (Christ has already atoned for our sins).
As such we value and uphold the spiritual heritage of Martin Luther and Gabriel Hedberg, which highlights God’s justifying and sanctifying presence in individuals through faith. The core of the Good News is revealed to us in the Bible—the Word of God—which is the only guide for faith and life.
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Since its formation, the evangelical movement in Finland has further suffered a painful rupture. When the Finnish evangelical Lutheran Church approved of women’s ordination in 1986, within the church this decision was greeted with divided opinions. Within the evangelical movement, some approved of this change in church law, whereas the majority of evangelicals wished to retain the traditional view of male-only ordination.
This shift led to a tense period of debates and discussions, but as 20 years passed, it became apparent that there could be no agreement. It is lamentable that these debates distracted many of the faithful from the real core of the gospel, as this issue of disagreement preoccupied the minds of members and divided yearly board meetings. There was a strong desire to maintain unity, but to no avail.
Finally in the year 2007, those who supported the new church law concerning the ordination of both men and women, decided to form their own association. Thus on 30th of March 2008, the newly elected board of the Finnish Lutheran Evangelical Mission gathered in Tampere and founded a new evangelical association. The majority of evangelicals remained in the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland (LEAF), who until this day have maintained the traditional view of male-only ordination.
In the beginning FLEM operated as an independent mission agency, but in 2022 it was granted the status of an official mission agency in the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church. Since 2022 FLEM has grown substantially and the new strategy has broadened the mission work towards Southeast Asia.