Last modified: 2007-03-17 by rob raeside
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The Lutheran Church in the United States also uses the Christian Flag.
Eric Martin, 4 June 1997
![[Evangelic-Lutheran Church, Germany]](../images/r/rel-elkd.gif)
by Dieter Linder, 7 June 1997
In Germany flags are only shown *in front of* religious buildings, but not *in* churches. It would be very, very unusual for a German to see the national flag in his church.
There are two religious flags to be seen very often on Sundays or religious holidays in front of churches: the flag of the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) and of the Römisch-Katholische Kirche. These are the two dominating denominations, the Evangelic-Lutherans running up to 35,7 % and the Roman Catholics to 34,7 %.
The flag of the EKD is white with a violet Latin cross all over. However, the
cross does not touch the edges.
Dieter Linder, 7 June 1997
by
Marcus Schmöger, 15 August 1997
From June 18th to June 22th 1997 the Evangelic-Lutheran Church in Germany had
its Church Convention (Kirchentag) in Leipzig. Such a Kirchentag is the
opportunity for all people, belonging to this church or not, to present
themselves. Flags were prominently displayed in Leipzig. At the fairground there
were about 50 flagpoles with the flag of the Evangelic Church (vertical flag;
purple Scandinavian cross on white). The emblem of the Kirchentag itself is a
simple Greek cross with a smaller Greek cross in each of the four corners. This
was shown on flags as well. The size and the colours differed a lot, so I post
four of the variants I have seen. All of them were displayed hanging from the
top of a fairground hall.
Marcus Schmöger, 15 August 1997
image by
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 7 January 2007
SELK is the abbreviation of "Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche",
translated "Independent Lutheran Church". It is a German affair only. In 1972 in
the Bundesreplublik Deutschland (Western Germany) the "Evangelisch-Lutherische (Altlutheraner)
Kirche", the "Evangelisch-Lutherische Freikirche" and the SELK merged, keeping
the name of the last one. In 1976 the "Evangelisch-Lutherische Bekenntniskirche"
joined the Federation of Churches. In 1991 the Evangelisch- Lutherische (Altlutheraner)
Kirche der DDR" also joined the SELK. The roots of SELK are lying in the
awakenings-movement of the 19th century. The first parishes were established
since 1830. The Lutherans refused the unification of the Lutheran Church and the
Reformed Church in Prussia(1817-1830). Despite of heavy suppressions of the
Prussian state finally a church, faithful in confession and independent from the
state was built. The movement spread out from Pommern and Schlesien all over
Prussian lands. In Hessen(1873/74) and Baden(1851) there were similar
developments. Refusing liberal theology and rationalism independent Lutheran
churches were also established in Sachsen and Hannover, but they remained under
the roof of the state-churches in those countries.
Organization:
The SELK is led by a bishop. The parish is led by a pastor, there is always a
managing committee in every parish and an assembly of members. Parishes form a
District, led by a superintendent and his convent, controlled by a "Beirat" and
a parliament(=district-synod). Districts form a "Sprengel", led by a Probst and
his convent. The whole church is ruled by a Kirchenleitung with the bishop as
its chairman and the general convent, controlled by a parliament(=synod). For
further information click: www.selk.de.
Description of the flag:
The banner of the SELK is white with a violet Latin cross all over but not
touching the edges of the flag. To distinguish from EKD-flag violet capital
letters "SELK"in column-formation are added at the left lower edge of the
banner.
SELK-flag was spotted on Easter 2006 in Hamburg-Hamm.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 7 January 2007
The flag of the largest Lutheran denomination in the US, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, can be seen at http://www.scsw-elca.org/india_pictures.htm,
although the prominent spelling mistakes probably make this an "unofficial
variant" being used locally in India!
Ned Smith, 22 August 2004
The flag shown in the pictures in India wasn't produced in America. I browsed
the site and found that the donator of the flag, NELC, is the Northern
Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (so the spelling errors are more
understandable). It thus may well be a unique specimen.
Martin Karner,
23 August 2004
The flag of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod is emblazoned: The church's
logo--a stylized cross--in burgundy on a white field with burgundy stripes in
the fly. An image of the flag can be seen at Concordia
Publishing House's Web site.
Peter Guerin, 25 July 2004
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is the second largest Lutheran
denomination in the US. The largest is the Evangelical
Lutheran Church.
Ned Smith, 22 August 2004
The third largest Lutheran denomination in the US has its own flag. A black
and white image of the flag of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod may be
seen at
http://online.nph.net/images/products/larger/large_295191.jpg and
http://online.nph.net/cgi-bin/site.pl?10418&productID=295191, web pages of
Northwestern Publishing House, the publications arm of the denomination.
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has approximately 445,000 members-
about 225,000 in Wisconsin, about 195,000 elsewhere in the US, and about 25,000
in Canada and the Caribbean. The denomination's homepage is at
http://www.wels.net.
The flag bears the WELS seal on a solid field. A color image of the seal can be
seen at
http://www.wels.net/s3/uploaded/35810/WELSSeal.png. The seal has an outer
border, then the name WISCONSIN
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN SYNOD arranged in a circle with a Lutheran Rose design at
the bottom separating the first and last words; within the circle a wreath,
within the wreath the phrases Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura,
separated by crosses and arranged in a circle; then within that a descending
dove with a halo and a red shield with black cross; the dove and shield
superimposed on an open bible.
Ned Smith, 25 July 2006
The Lutheran Church-Canada has a somewhat similar flag to that of the Missouri
Synod. The Church's
homepage says that it developed from Canadian congregations of the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod, and still retains close ties with it, so it isn't
surprising that there is some similarity between their flags. Both have a doubly
silhouetted cross and thin vertical stripes, but whereas the LC-MS's flag has
the cross and stripes in burgundy, and the stripes at the hoist, the LC-C's has
the cross and stripes in blue, and the stripes not as close to the hoist (note:
I am judging that the linked picture of the LC-MS flag is displaying its hoist
to the viewer's right) . There are also a few subtle differences between the
shapes of the crosses.
Ned Smith, 22 August 2004
