The years following the Boxer Rebellion saw a dramatic expansion of Lutheran efforts. The Norwegian American Lutherans sent ten additional missionaries to China. BelgianLutherans from The Hague worked closely with their American co-religionists and considerable progress was made during the years from 1902 to 1914. Other Lutheran societies from the United States and from the Scandinavian nations sent their personnel to various parts of China. Most of these bodies - the American Lutheran Brethren Mission is one example - settled in with the earlier arrivals in Hubei and Henan. Other missionaries, such as those serving the newly revived Norwegian Missionary Society, moved into cities in Hunan.
By 1914, the Lutherans had been able to establish new mission stations and plant new churches. They had also been gaining new converts. Their total membership reached 24,422 in 1914. Finally, because they stressed self-government, they had been able to set up a seminary in Shekou, in Hubei, where they could train Chinese Lutheran clergy and church workers.
The coming of World War One hurt German Lutheran efforts, but missionaries from other nations helped out their brethren. The war did have its positive side for the Lutherans in China: It was during these years that preliminary steps were taken to unite their various groups, representing six different nations, into a Lutheran mission union. A preliminary constitution for this union was drawn up and this proposal was accepted by the different Lutheran bodies in 1917.
The 1920s and 1930s saw the steady evolution of a Lutheran presence in the face of the anti-missionary campaign and the anti-imperialist movement. Only the Communist victory brought to an end the almost sixty years of Lutheran development.
In April 1950, Chin Chung-An, a medical doctor from Xi'an, started conducting family worship services in his residence in Kaoshiung. By 3 June 1951, the Kaohsiung congregation was established and 59 people were baptised. This congregation became the first congregation of the Taiwan Lutheran Church and is today known as the Chien-Chen Lutheran Church.[5]
At around the same time, two Norwegian women missionaries, Helga Waabeno and Gertrude Fitje, who had worked at the Mackay Memorial Hospital as nurses, started a Bible study class at their residence in Taipei. The class was taken over a year later by an American missionary with Norwegian ancestors, Lenorah Erickson, and by 1952 had been organized as the first TLC congregation in Taipei.[5]
Establishment of a national church
On 1 November 1954, the TLC was officially established in a meeting held at the Taipei Salvation Lutheran Church. This meeting brought together 32 delegates from congregations and outreach centres set up by mission societies which had previously been active in mainland China and had set up seven of the 16 synods of the Lutheran Church of China (LCC). The seven former LCC synods who took part in the church union under the banner of the TLC were:[6]
Yuzhong Synod (豫中區會)
Formerly the Augustana Synod Mission in central Henan
Yu'e Synod (豫鄂區會)
Formerly the United Lutheran Mission in Henan and Hubei
Yudong Synod (豫東區會)
Formerly the Lutheran Free Church Mission in eastern Henan
Yuxi Synod (豫西區會)
Formerly the American Lutheran Brethren Mission in western Henan
Yu’eshaan Synod (豫鄂陕區會)
Formerly the Norwegian Lutheran China Mission in Hubei, Henan and Shaanxi
Missionaries formerly attached to the Shaannan Synod (陕南區會) in Southern Shaanxi and the Xiangxi Synod (湘西區會) in western Hunan also attached their work in Taiwan under the umbrella of the TLC in 1954 and 1956 respectively.
This was followed by the congregations associated with the former Shaannan synod which withdrew in 1961 [6] and formed the China Lutheran Gospel Church in 1973.[7] Congregations associated with the former Xiangxi synod withdrew in 1974 and formed the Lutheran Church of Taiwan in 1977.[8]
The first president of the TLC was elected from the representative of the Yuxi synod.[3][6]
1954-1955
Rev Tu Chang-Wu
1956-1959
Rev Stanley Tung
1959-1962
Rev Peter Chou
1962-1966
Rev Chang Chi-Tang
1974-1976
Rev Peter Chou
1976-1978
Rev Chang Chi Tang
1978-1980
Rev Liu Sing-Yi
1980-1984
Rev Lee Chang-Ying
1984-1986
Rev Peter Chou
1986-1990
Rev Stanley Tung
1990-1993
Rev Thomas Yu
1993-1999
Rev Chuang Tung-Chieh
1999-2005
Rev Peter Yang
2005-2008
Rev Chen Chun-Kuang
2008–2014
Rev Chen Chih-Hung
2014–2020
Rev Wu Ying-Ping
2020–2023
Rev Chang Fu-Ming
2023– present
Rev Kao Tang-En
Schools and colleges
Lutheran Theological Seminary
The Lutheran Theological Seminary was established in Taipei in 1957. The campus was moved to Taichung in 1960. The seminary was forced to close in 1965 due to disagreements between the Chinese and Western faculty.[6]
