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Timeline Leading to Expulsions
Every event from the 1970s to today, from the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake expulsions to the move against Coastal California and the part the SRK has played, each linked to its recording or document. Filter by topic – ministers removed, forgiveness, no doctrine named, the expulsion steps – or search by name.
The Laestadian Lutheran Church (LLC) has called a virtual meeting of congregation delegates to vote on expelling the Coastal California Laestadian Lutheran Church (CCLLC). It is the third congregation the LLC has tried to remove since it expelled Minneapolis and Wolf Lake in 2022. In all that time not one contrary doctrine has been named, not one passage of Scripture cited, not one specific act identified. The only ground ever given is that a majority feels a “different spirit,” a standard the LLC’s own Constitution forbids and one no congregation can answer, because nothing has been put into words to answer. The whole record is published here: the letters, the LLC’s notice and CCLLC’s response, and the recording of the meeting itself. Every member congregation may read it and judge for itself, from the Word, from the Constitution, and from the record, before any delegate is asked to vote.
Laestadian Lutheran Church (LLC) on kutsunut koolle seurakuntien edustajien virtuaalisen kokouksen äänestääkseen Coastal Californian laestadiolais-luterilaisen seurakunnan (CCLLC) erottamisesta. Se on kolmas seurakunta, jonka LLC on pyrkinyt poistamaan sen jälkeen, kun se erotti Minneapolisin ja Wolf Laken vuonna 2022. Koko tänä aikana ei ole nimetty yhtäkään vastakkaista oppia, ei siteerattu yhtäkään Raamatun kohtaa eikä osoitettu yhtäkään tiettyä tekoa. Ainoa esitetty peruste on se, että enemmistö kokee ”toisen hengen”; tämä on mittapuu, jonka LLC:n oma perussääntö (Constitution) kieltää ja johon yksikään seurakunta ei voi vastata, koska mitään ei ole puettu sanoiksi, mihin vastata. Koko aineisto julkaistaan tässä: kirjeet, LLC:n ilmoitus ja CCLLC:n vastaus sekä itse kokouksen äänitallenne. Jokainen jäsenseurakunta voi lukea sen ja arvioida itse Sanan, perussäännön ja aineiston pohjalta, ennen kuin yhtäkään edustajaa pyydetään äänestämään.
Why this site exists
This site exists to state a clear position on the excommunications taking place in the Laestadian Lutheran Church, the 2022 removals of the Minneapolis and Wolf Lake congregations and the expulsion of the Coastal California congregation now set for a delegates' vote, and to document that position so thoroughly that no reader has to take anyone's word for anything.
The position is this: no doctrine from the Holy Word of God has ever been stated against any of these congregations. The removals rest on a claim the LLC's own Constitution forbids, that the spirit of a majority cannot err, and were carried out without the notice, the reasons, and the hearing that both the law and the Bylaws require. If this position is wrong, it can be answered the same way it is made here: from the Word, from the Constitution, and from the record. That is the whole request.
Miksi tämä sivusto on olemassa
Tämä sivusto on olemassa esittääkseen selkeän kannan Laestadian Lutheran Churchissa tapahtuviin erottamisiin, Minneapolisin ja Wolf Laken seurakuntien poistamiseen vuonna 2022 ja Coastal Californian seurakunnan erottamiseen, josta edustajien on määrä äänestää, sekä dokumentoidakseen tuon kannan niin perusteellisesti, ettei kenenkään lukijan tarvitse luottaa kenenkään sanaan.
Kanta on tämä: yhtäkään Jumalan pyhän sanan oppia ei ole koskaan esitetty näitä seurakuntia vastaan. Erottamiset perustuvat väitteeseen, jonka LLC:n oma perussääntö (Constitution) kieltää, että enemmistön henki ei voi erehtyä, ja ne toteutettiin ilman sitä ilmoitusta, niitä perusteita ja sitä kuulemista, joita sekä laki että säännöt (Bylaws) edellyttävät. Jos tämä kanta on väärä, siihen voidaan vastata samalla tavalla kuin se tässä esitetään: Sanasta, perussäännöstä ja aineistosta käsin. Se on koko pyyntö.
Background
The same history in prose, with what the LLC says it believes, why the pattern matters, and every claim linked to its source.
Latest: CCLLC's Response to the LLC Notice (September 3, 2026)
The LLC has noticed a virtual delegates' meeting to vote on expelling the Coastal California congregation. CCLLC's written response, delivered September 3 with Exhibits A–I, shows the notice is not lawful, the meeting cannot be held as noticed, and the “reasons” given are still conclusions, with no doctrine, no Scripture, and no specific decision identified.
Read the response with exhibits (PDF) → The LLC's notice (PDF)
The Open Letter (September 8, 2026)
To the Board of the SRK, copied to the Archbishop of Turku and Finland and the Bishop of Oulu: after two unanswered letters and four years of silence, do you believe what was spoken at the 2026 LLC Annual Meeting?
The Recording & Exhibits
Every quotation in the letter, cut from the meeting recording with the matching transcript, including “he is not a believer,” the motions no delegate would second, the vote, and the statements of the SRK’s representative. The complete recording is here as well.
The Full Transcript
The complete machine transcript of the July 3, 2026 Annual Meeting, timestamped throughout.
The Recordings
Four meetings published in full, each with a transcript that highlights and scrolls as the recording plays: the 2026 Annual Meeting, the LLC board’s December 7, 2019 meeting with the Wolf Lake congregation, the April 13, 2019 board members’ workshop at Monticello, and the March 14, 2026 Southwest Area board meeting concerning Coastal California.
All four recordings → Dec. 7, 2019 Apr. 13, 2019 Mar. 14, 2026
Continual Forgiveness: the doctrine that was never identified
The term made an issue in 2022, set against the LLC’s own meetings: what its chairman and staff said about the difference, and what they could never name.
The Prior Letters, Unanswered
August 3, 2022, to the LLC board and member congregations. June 1, 2023, delivered also to the SRK Board of Directors (Attn: Valde Palola). Neither received a reply.
Sources and documents → Aug. 3, 2022 (PDF) June 1, 2023 (PDF) Nov. 18, 2023 (PDF)
Writing to us privately
A question, a correction, a document, or a recording that bears on anything published here. Nothing sent is published, quoted, or forwarded without permission, and you may write anonymously.