CENTRAL IDEAS

The central basis for our work is the fact that God acts through his word and sacraments: The Holy Baptism and the Holy Communion. Through them, God is offering salvation, brought by Jesus when he died on the cross for everyone. This freely given salvation is, above all, a cause for joy. This can be seen in the songbook of the evangelical movement, Siionin Kannel (The Harp of Zion).

For us, it is especially important to cherish the religious concepts of Lutheranism. Therefore, we have translated and published numbers of Luther’s books. Through an extensive project we have published over 20,000 pages of Luther’s texts and an additional 40,000 pages including other Lutheran teachers and Church Fathers in Finnish in a collection called Kirkon aarteita (Treasures of the Church, publ. 2011). As far as we know, this is the first of its kind and there are only few university libraries that match its extencity.

THE EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT TODAY

LEAF is locally organized in 100 local associations consisting of 4 000 members altogether. In some of the biggest cities (Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Jyväskylä, Lahti) LEAF has its own premises that are consecrated churches. Furthermore, there are about 30 prayer houses as meeting places in other areas. We organize The National Gospel Festival every summer in different locations, which gathers over 7 000 participants every year. There are 10 evangelical folk high schools, and 12 residential colleges.

THE FOREIGN MISSIONARY WORK

LEAF started its foreign missionary work in 1900 with Japan as the first mission field. Since the 1970s, we have carried out missionary work also in Kenya, Zambia, Cameroun, South-Sudan, Papua-New-Guinea, Burma, Germany, Estonia, and Russia. LEAF has about 30 missionaries altogether. Currently, our aim is to increase our mission work in areas where there are only few Christians.

VARIOUS FIELDS OF WORK

LEAF works inside the local parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. We arrange evangelistic events, Bible congresses, church services, camps, and lectures on the Bible. In LEAF we also focus on different selective groups like children, the youth, the students, and the families to support them in their specific phases of life. LEAF works through the radio and printed media by publishing three periodical magazines. They are Sanansaattaja (The Messenger), a magazine for young people called Nuotta, and Vinkki, a children’s magazine.

Updated 17th september 2024

Pastor of international work in Finland

Rev. Richard Ondicho
richard.otiso@sley.fi