A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ELCM
The ELCM is predominantly a Tamil speaking Lutheran Church, although there has always been work done in English, and now, in Bahasa Malaysia.
The Tamil Lutherans who came to Malaya in the 1800’s with the workforce were known as Diaspora Indians because India remained their “home” or “motherland.” These Lutherans remained faithful to the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church in South India (TELC). TELC was established as a registered body on 14 January 1919. TELC’s glorious past can be traced to the Tranquebar Mission, officially known as the Danish Halle Mission. The church, planted in Tranquebar through the efforts of Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau back on 9 July 1706, was transplanting itself across the Indian Ocean in Malaya.
The Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission (LELM) missionaries from India had been visiting Penang and Singapore in the late 1870s, and the year 1877 was a significant year for the Lutherans in Malaya as it marked the coming of one Andreas Mayr from the Leipzig Mission in South India to Penang. Rev. August Clemens Schoner of the Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission (LELM) from Germany visited Penang in 1901 together with Rev. Thiruchilluvai Joseph and met Tamil Lutherans who were praying for the establishment of a Lutheran Church in Malaya, most of whom were associate members of either the Methodist or Anglican Church. They found 315 Tamil Lutherans in Penang, Malaya.
James Thoburn, the first Methodist missionary bishop of India and Malaysia, invited LELM to send someone once a year to celebrate the sacraments with the Lutherans in Malaya, and this led to Rev. Gustav Theodor Göttsching’s visit to Malaya in 1902 to re-organise the Tamil Lutherans and took two years to put Lutherans on a surer footing. In 1906, Rev. Karl Pamperrien, president of the LELM in India, conducted an official survey in Malaya on the possibility of establishing a Lutheran ministry in Malaya, and later stationed Rev. Thiruchilluvai Joseph in Kuala Lumpur on 11th November 1906 and the first Divine Service was held on 30th January 1907 at a shophouse in Scott Road, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur assisted by Mr P. Retnam, a Catechist and Mr Arputham Andrew Peter, Organist in Kuala Lumpur and Mr. Jacob, Catechist in Penang. In 1908, the Rev. Friedrich Gustav Herrmann Matthes, the first German/Western missionary from LELM, was stationed in Penang, Malaya, to overlook the growing work in Penang and Ipoh and reported finding 516 Lutherans in Malaya.
The Lutherans were scattered throughout the country and the work was divided into two areas, cantered in Penang and Kuala Lumpur. With the help of pastors from the TELC, and regular support of the Leipzig Missionaries at first and then the Church of Sweden Mission later, the Lutheran Church began to be more organized. This marked the beginning of a consolidated effort to establish Lutheran work in Malaysia.
The Joint Conference of TELC Malaya made up of the two circles, Penang and Kuala Lumpur, met from 12-13 August 1962 and approved the Constitution of ELCM to form a new diocese with an unchanging doctrinal basis, giving autonomous administrative independence to ELCM from TELC while retaining close connection and full spiritual fellowship with the mother church in India; and the establishment of a common Lutheran Church in Malaya, no longer called a Tamil church, but open to Lutherans of other origins as well. Thus, the name of the newly formed Lutheran Church is Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia and not Tamil or Indian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia.
The first meeting of the Diocesan Assembly of the new ELCM was from 25th – 26th January 1963, and on 7 November 1965, the Rev. Bertil Envall was elected as the 1st Bishop of ELCM (or at that time known as ELCMS – Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore) and consecrated on the 29 May 1966
From that time, the Church grew by leaps and bounds, leading to local people graduating from the seminary as pastors. The first Local Bishop, the Rt.Rev.E.B.Muthusami was consecrated on the 31st October, 1976. The second local Bishop, the Rt.Rev.Julius D. Paul was consecrated on the 10th April 1988. In 1994, the ELCMS had to separate from Singapore and became the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia (ELCM). The fourth Bishop, Rt. Rev. Dr. Solomon Rajah was elected on the 1st of November 2008 and consecrated on the 21st February 2009. The current Bishop, Rt. Rev. Steven Lawrence was elected on 9th November 2019 and consecrated on 4th July 2024.
The Church has grown from its humble beginnings as a diaspora community from India and an outreach for missionaries to twenty-six congregations, four outreaches and a few well established Diakonia institutions with pastors, evangelists, Deaconess and church workers. At present, in 2024, four seminarians are pursuing their theological education at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia (STM).
The Structure of the ELCM
Christian faith is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. But God calls Christians into local congregations so that faith may be strengthened in fellowship with other believers. This is the purpose of membership in a Christian congregation and the wider fellowship of an organised church.
The Congregation
Lutheran congregations in each locality are mostly autonomous, subject to the authority of the Diocese in terms of policy and major decisions. They are responsible for the ministry of the Gospel in that place. The local congregation may initiate outreaches, institutions, or in an ecumenical effort, cooperate with other churches in the area to carry out the ministry. The local congregation receives the Pastor sent from the Diocese. The Pastor is called to preach and teach the Word of God, administer the Sacraments and to counsel and equip the members for their life of faith and Christian service. The term “Pastor” is the title commonly given by Lutherans to their minister. It comes from the Latin word for “shepherd”.
The Diocese
At the national level, the congregations form the Diocese, the overall body known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia (ELCM). The diocese carries out ministries and services which individual congregations cannot carry out by themselves. The pastors and lay delegates from every congregation meet at the annual Diocesan Assembly to decide on policy matters and elect the Diocesan Council. The Diocesan Council is the executive body of the ELCM. The Diocesan Council is chaired by the Bishop, who is the head of the diocese, ELCM. He is responsible for the day-to-day administration, doctrinal, ministerial, pastoral, liturgical, ecclesiological, legislative and administrative matters of ELCM.
