Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras
From Missiopedia
- Back to Honduras
- See also Denominations in Honduras.
- Source: ELCA
The Iglesia Christiana Luterana de Honduras (ICLH) grew out of the mission work of North American missionaries from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. In the 1950s they established small Lutheran congregations in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and three other rural settlements.
This Lutheran venture changed and grew when Salvadorans migrated to Honduras in search of "soil to sow." As there were Lutherans among them, their missionary pastor in El Salvador, Gerhard Kempff, began visiting them in 1960. In 1964 Pastor Kempff moved to Tegucigalpa himself and served the scattered enclaves from this central location for the next seven years.
The largest congregation of the ICLH is located where the majority of Salvadoran refugees settled -- near Juticalpa, the capital of the Department of Olancho, which lies some distance northeast of Tegucigalpa in the foothills of the Cordillera de Galta. There is a second congregation in San Nicolas, 25 km from Juticalpa in the foothills of Cerro Brujo. Their pastor, a graduate of the Augsburg Seminary in Mexico City, found the people eager for the Gospel. In 1980, a third congregation was established in the second largest city in Honduras, San Pedro.
Known formerly as the Lutheran Mission of Juticalpa, this small body was granted legal status in 1984 as the Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras. The political situation changed and many of the Salvadorans left Honduras. As the Salvadoran refugees were returning to their country, the congregational life dwindled, and in 1990 the church set up new national working structures. The Iglesia Christiana Luterana de Honduras (ILCH) was accepted into the Lutheran World Federation in 1994. It is also a member of The Communion of Central American Lutheran Churches (CILCA). Theologically, it follows the orientation of the Lutheran Church in El Salvador and its links with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are diminishing gradually.
The ICLH has 2,000 members in three congregations and eight preaching points, and is served by three national pastors and a group of lay leaders. They serve as "agentes pastorales," evangelists and catechists in the rural communities and shanty-towns of Tegucigalpa.
The ICLH has a group of lay pastors that are currently serving in the mission outreach ministry of the church, mostly located in the rural area of Honduras. These teams receive regular training through workshops sponsored by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Chile and conducted by professors from the Lutheran University in El Salvador.
Honduras was hit hard by Hurricane Mitch in late 1998, leaving tens of thousands dead and homeless. The intense and sustained precipitation caused widespread flooding and landslides, damaging roads, bridges and essential infrastructure. As much as seventy percent of crops, including ninety percent of the banana crop, were destroyed. It was a catastrophe of incredible magnitude, a disaster of "biblical proportions," as several observers noted. The ELCA responded through Lutheran World Relief with both immediate and long-term aid.
