About The Church

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Vision and values
 

Who we are
 

Leadership:
The Church Council and the Staff

Vision and values

Our vision as a church is:

Together with Jesus out to people.

Our core values are: Inclusive – genuine – generous

Inclusive:   

We aim to be a fellowship that embraces all generations and nationalities, and where individuals are seen and valued. We seek to be outward focused and meet our fellow man where we are.

Genuine:

We aim to be honest, trustworthy and true in our behaviour and we want to add to each others value! We practice openness, dialogue and involvement.  We seek to live after God’s word and to follow Jesus every day.

Generous

We want to show kindness and love by serving one another. We let people into our lives and our homes and share the word of God.

Who are we?

There are many different churches in Norway and it may at times be hard to grasp the difference between the ones that exist, especially outside The Norwegian Church.

Therefore we wish to give you a brief explanation of who we are.

Frikirkens official name is  The Evangelical Lutheran Free Church. What does this mean?

We are a Lutheran church.

We belong to the Lutheran branch and are therefore on the same branch as The Norwegian Church. In other words, we are Lutheran.

We are an evangelical church.

Therefore, we belong to the same tradition as most churches except for the catholic and the orthodox church. Furthermore, one of our most important heritage from the reformist of the 1500 hundreds is e.g. the following edicts from Luther:

The word alone – not tradition.
We believe that the Bible is the word of God and that it is a crucial foundation for what we believe and teach, and for how we live.

While the Catholics build their theology on the bible and tradition, Martin Luther claimed that only the scripture could give us the answer to theological questions. He, therefore, dismissed the authority of tradition, represented in the pope’s word and the church councils.

Faith alone – not deeds.
Martin Luther criticized the church of his time for laying to much weight on deeds. He said that salvation is given by faith alone, not deeds. This was, by Luther, founded in Paul’s letter to the Romans, in the New Testament. See Romans 3,20-22: «20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–»

By grace alone – not human power.
What did Luther believe could give salvation, when good deeds weren’t enough? Luther believed only by God’s grace could man be saved. We as humans can only receive mercy, not gain it through our strength. In other words, God’s goodness is freely given through grace.

We are a Free church

When the Free Church was born in 1877 it was mainly a reaction to the state church order of the time. One of the main slogans was:” The church should be led and managed by their own, believing members.”

In other words, we are a church that is free and independent from the Norwegian state. We choose who we want to hire, we take responsibility for our economy and activity.

We also have more freedom than the Norwegian Church to decide over our services and how they are organized.

If you wish to know more please contact our pastor or our elders.

Membership

In order to become a member at Trondheim Frikirke there are two criteria: 1) You have to be baptized by a Christian baptism. If you need to be baptized, please let us know. 2) You cannot, in accordance with Norwegian law, be a member of another Norwegian denomination. 

If you will be a resident in Trondheim for some years and consider Trondheim Frikirke your church, you might want to consider becoming a member with voting rights. Only members with voting rights, previously called full membership, can vote in the congregational meetings where we make financial decisions, vote for elders and deacons, and make important strategic decisions. In our statutes the paragraph on membership says: Members who want the right to vote in congregation meetings can achieve this after reaching the age of 15. They must confess their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, agree to our church's confession, and take part in the community of the congregation where words and sacraments are administered. This gives access to all the church's benefits and shares in the full responsibility for the congregation and church. An elder holds talks with those who want the right to vote and decides whether the prerequisites are present. (Translation of the Norwegian original)

It is therefore natural for us as members as long as our health and situation allow to participate in the Sunday service and other gatherings, to serve with our time, gifts and economics, and to say yes to our beliefs. There will be times when there for some reason will be difficult to come to church or our small groups, or a time when doubts occur. This is a natural part of being a human and a Christian and no reason to give up your membership.