Two pastors have resigned

It is our most sad duty to inform that during the past four months two of our pastors have abandoned their call as a pastor of their congregation and have resigned their membership in the Confessional Lutheran Church of Finland (STLK). Mika Bergman announced his resignation on the 28 th of April 2018. Dani Puolimatka followed him with his resignation announcement on the 15 th of August 2018. As for their reasons for leaving our synod, both pastors clearly expressed the changes in their personal conviction of faith which made work with a congregation confessing the Lutheran faith, thus the Word of God, infeasible. Bergman was a pastor of the confessional Lutheran congregation in Helsinki and Puolimatka in Tampere.

As congregations committed to the clear teachings and truth of God's Word we can by no means concur with the doctrinal beliefs and convictions that now separate Mr. Bergman and Mr. Puolimatka from the mutual brotherhood of faith with us. We still want to honor and thankfully remember their work and preaching the Gospel, with which they served the souls of our congregations these past few years. We sincerely hope and pray that our merciful Redeemer, Jesus Christ, would use His Word to bring these men back in fellowship with us – if not in this life, then on the blessed day of Christ's glory. We have atonement and eternal redemption from our sins only in Christ, who is our mediator and the foundation of our peace with God. (John 3:16; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14, 19-21).