In October 1968, the Biblicum Foundation was established on the initiative of Doctor David Hedegård and Dean G.A. Danell. The reason was the apostasy from the Word of God at the theological facilities and inside the national church of Sweden. Seth Erlandsson was called to build up an institute for Biblical research and teaching and be its director after his doctorate. Many were longing for true Biblical teaching on a regular basis in an orthodox congregation. Through Biblicum’s lectures at so-called Biblicumdays, the contrast to the mixed teachings in the pluralistic state-church became evident.
A group of young Christians in Uppsala had for several years gathered around Doctor Hedegård for studies of the Bible and Luther’s Small Catechism. In the autumn of 1970, the group called docent Seth Erlandsson to conduct services every Sunday, to assist Dr. Hedegård with preaching, and to administer the Sacraments.
In 1972, pastor Per Jonsson in Landskrona published articles in favour of leaving the state-church and establishing a free Lutheran confessional church. On his proposal, Biblicum invited Dr. Siegbert Becker (WELS) to Sweden in the autumn of 1972 for lectures on important Biblical doctrines.
Through Becker’s visit, the doctrine of church fellowship became a burning issue and resulted in a split in the board of Biblicum in the beginning of 1973 when Erlandsson and Jonsson announced that they planned to leave the state-church, convinced that a protest against the apostasy in the national Lutheran church was not enough.
The so-called separatistic services in Uppsala, mentioned above, resulted in establishing a free Lutheran congregation in September 1973 named St. Matteus. Sten Johansson was called as its pastor and was ordained in the presence of two pastors from The Evangelical Lutheran Synod in the USA (ELS).
Two more congregations were formed in the summer 1974. Bible studies in Yxenhult in the south of Sweden under the leadership of Erlandsson resulted in establishing the St. Johannes congregation in Yxenhult. Per Jonsson formed Vår Frälsares lutherska församling (Our Savior’s Lutheran congregation) in Landskrona and became its pastor.
In September 7, 1974, members of the three congregations met in Uppsala and constituted LBK, Lutherska Bekännelsekyrkan (The Lutheran Confessional Church). During the next seven years, six more congregations were established, among them two in Norway.
Church Body Statistics
Congregations: 7
Preaching Stations: 3
National Pastors: 6
Heliga Trefaldighets ev-lutherska församling, Göteborg
Lutherska Bekännelsekyrkan i Norrköping-Västerås
Lutherska Bekännelsekyrkan i Stockholm
St Paulus ev-luth församling, Uppsala
Lutherska Imanuelsförsamlingen, Umeå
St Jakob ev-luth församling, Piteå
Contact Information
Ingvar Adriansson
Släntvägen 10
SE-33135 Värnamo
Phone: +46-70-3938127
Stefan Hedkvist
Hallonstigen 49 c
SE-60570 Svärtinge
Phone: +46-73-8434769
