Lutheranism Legally born in Spain

It has been reported by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) on September 13 that the first Lutheran Church established in Spain since the time of the Spanish Inquisition has “received legal recognition by the Spanish Government.”

Through a recent act, the Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Espanola (IELE) became the very first Spanish Lutheran Church to be recognised by the government in the past 500 years.

This new beginning for Lutheranism in Spain started in 2000 with the profession of a family in Seville. An aeronautical technician who formerly taught the Catholic doctrine, Juan Carlos Garcia Cazorla, and his family became the “first Lutheran family in Seville nearly 500 years since the Inquisition extinguished the community that existed there.”

Through their confessions of faith, the Argentinean Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELA) sent a missionary to help guide and build a stronger foundation for the mission to reach out to the whole country.

Later, in 2002, the IELA established the IELE, which has now become a Church that draws congregations from Madrid, Seville, Cantabria, Andalucia and Asturias. Furthermore, several members of the church attend pastoral programs in order to provide the IELE with new pastors for the future building and expansion of the Church.

A financial and logistical partnership was formed between the IELA and the LCMS World Mission to commence the mission effort. Dr Arthur Just, who is from the Concordia Theological Seminary – the flagship seminary of the LCMS – played a vital role in launching the missionary training initiative in Spain when the Church was established.

Both the IELE and the LCMS are confessional churches with solid foundations and openly promote relationships with other confessional churches across the world. However, neither church is part of the 65 million member Lutheran World Federation, which is an ecumenical fellowship of Lutheran Churches Worldwide.