Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church (CELC), formerly

Ceylon Evangelical
known as Lanka Lutheran Church, is a Lutheran body in Sri
Lanka.[1] It is a denomination of around 5000 members and has
Lutheran Church
been in fellowship with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Abbreviation CELC
(LCMS) since 2001. It is a full member of the International Classification Protestant
Lutheran Council.
Orientation Lutheran
Polity Episcopal
History
Associations International
In the 1927, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod began Lutheran
missionary work in what was then known as Ceylon as an Council
outgrowth of its work in India. The work was centered on the Region Sri Lanka
Tamil-speaking Hindus in the tea estate region central Sri Lanka.[2]
Origin 1978 (as
In 1978, the churches were registered with the Sri Lankan
government.[3] In 1998, the LCMS resident missionaries were Lanka
withdrawn from the country.[4] The name Lanka Lutheran Church Lutheran
was adopted in about the year 2000.[3] In 2001, the Lanka Church)
Lutheran Church became a partner church of the LCMS[3][5] and 2017 (as
joined the International Lutheran Council. It also joined the CELC)
Lutheran World Federation, reporting a membership of 1,200.[6]
Branched from Lutheran
The church lost its government registration in about 2006.[3] By
Church–
2009 it reported having 5,324 baptized members.[7]
Missouri
In 2013, LCMS missionaries returned and worked to revive the Synod
church body. In September 2017, the first convocation of the Congregations 16
Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church adopted a new constitution;
Members 5,000
previous constitutions had merely been copies of those of the India
Evangelical Lutheran Church. The new name of the church was Pastors 4
chosen to show that the Lutheran church had been in the country Places of worship 5
since at least the 1920s. The convocation also ordained a new
pastor for the first time in ten years and established the Ceylon Other name(s) Lanka
Evangelical Lutheran Publishing House.[3] Lutheran
Church
On October 9, 2022, the Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church Official website celc.lk (http://c
(CELC) consecrated its first bishop, Rev. Arumanayagam elc.lk)
Arulchelvan. The consecration was conducted by Archbishop
Joseph Omolo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya
(ELCK), joined also by ELCK Bishops Kispin and Titus.[8]

Statistics
The CELC has 16 congregations, of which 5 have their own church buildings. Most of the congregations
are located in the Central Province, with one each in the Northern, Sabaragamuwa, Uva, and Western
provinces.[9]
The CELC is served by four pastors[10] and five evangelists.[11] Given that there are fewer pastors than
congregations, the pastors attempt to visit each congregation at least once a month to administer Holy
Communion.[10]

See also
Christianity in Sri Lanka

References
1. Fahlbusch, Erwin; Bromiley, Geoffrey William. The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Vol. 3. Wm.
B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 357. ISBN 0-8028-2415-3.
2. "Sri Lanka" (https://international.lcms.org/asia/sri-lanka/). Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
Retrieved 4 September 2022.
3. Magness, Cheryl (23 October 2017). "Built on the rock: New church, pastor, publishing
house in Sri Lanka" (https://reporter.lcms.org/2017/built-on-the-rock-new-church-pastor-publi
shing-house/). Reporter. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
4. "Sri Lanka" (https://international.lcms.org/asia/sri-lanka/). LCMS International Mission.
Retrieved 4 September 2022.
5. "A first: LCMS convention gives 100 percent approval to fellowship vote" (https://web.archiv
e.org/web/20051118062009/http://wfn.org/2001/07/msg00140.html). Worldwide Faith News.
17 July 2001. Archived from the original (http://www.wfn.org/2001/07/msg00140.html) on 18
November 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
6. "Sri Lanka" (https://web.archive.org/web/20020703175901/http://www.lutheranworld.org/Dire
ctory/ASI/LankaLutheranChurch.EN.html). Lutheran World Federation. Archived from the
original (http://www.lutheranworld.org/Directory/ASI/LankaLutheranChurch.EN.html) on 3
July 2002.
7. "The Lutheran World Federation 2009 Membership Figures" (https://web.archive.org/web/20
100821080424/http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2009.pdf)
(PDF). Lutheran World Federation. Archived from the original (http://www.lutheranworld.org/
LWF_Documents/LWF-Statistics-2009.pdf) (PDF) on 21 August 2010.
8. Block, Mathew (16 February 2023). "Sri Lankan Lutherans consecrate first bishop, seek ILC
membership" (https://ilc-online.org/2023/02/16/sri-lankan-lutherans-consecrate-first-bishop-s
eek-ilc-membership/). International Lutheran Council. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
9. "Congregations" (https://celc.lk/congregations/). The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church.
24 April 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
10. "Ministerium" (https://celc.lk/ministerium/). The Ceylon Evangelical Lutheran Church. 24
April 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
11. "Church Workers" (https://celc.lk/ministerium/church-workers/). The Ceylon Evangelical
Lutheran Church. 27 April 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2022.

External links
Official website (https://celc.lk/)

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