Laestadianism
In Finland, the Elämän Sana ("the Word of life") group, as the most "mainline" of the different branches of Laestadianism, has been prominent within the hierarchy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland: two members have been elected bishops of Oulu, and one has served as Chaplain General (head chaplain of the Finnish Defence Forces, the equivalent of a Major General).
This procedure, ingrained in Laestadianism, differs from absolution in mainstream Lutheran churches in several aspects, including that the request for forgiveness need not be, and most often is not, to the minister; the confession is often made openly; confession is not by appointment but rather readily available to any believer from any other believer at any time; and the specific wording of the declaration states that the means of atonement is Christ's shed blood.
Because a Laestadian takes very seriously the proposition that grace exists only for one whose sins have been specifically forgiven, there is scarcely another rite in this movement that would rival the importance of the declaration of forgiveness.
Conservative Laestadians frown upon worldly vices such as dancing, television, birth control, rhythmic music, make-up, earrings, movies, tattoos, and cursing.
Some conservative elements within the church go even further in rejecting the ways of the world by, for example, refusing to buy insurance, prohibiting their children's participation in organized school sports, and removing their car radios.
[9] The central activities of Laestadians are annual or more frequent church conventions, including the Summer Services of Conservative Laestadians, attended by members from congregations far and wide; and for the youth, haps (gatherings of teenagers and young adults to sing from Songs and Hymns of Zion and visit), song services, bonfires, youth discussions, caretaking meetings and revival meetings.
Laestadius met a Sami woman named Milla Clementsdotter from Föllinge in the municipality of Krokom in Jämtland during an 1844 inspection tour of Åsele.
She belonged to a revival movement within the Church of Sweden led by pastor Pehr Brandell of the parish of Nora in the municipality of Kramfors in Ångermanland and characterized by pietistic and Moravian influences.
He had had a deep experience of having entered a state of grace, of having received God's forgiveness for his sins and of at last truly seeing the path that leads to eternal life.
Two great challenges Laestadius had faced since his early days as a church minister were the indifference of his Sámi parishioners, who had been forced by the Swedish government to convert from their shamanistic religion to Lutheranism, and the misery caused them by alcoholism.
Additionally, in the early days of the movement, Laestadius, in order to find common ground with his parishioners, borrowed the Sámis' own familiar pagan deities and concepts and adapted them to Christianity.
[12] A faction within Laestadianism has believed that the movement is a contemporary descendant of an unbroken line of living Christianity via Luther, the Bohemian Brethren, the Lollards, and the Waldensians all the way back to the primitive Church.
Even within the Laestadian TFR of 5.47, there is diversity, with a 'moderate' group preferring to stop at four [children] and practise birth control while a conservative cluster engages in unrestrained reproduction.
