Elling Eielsen

Elling Eielsen (September 19, 1804 - January 10, 1883) was an American minister and Lutheran Church leader.

Background

Eielsen was born on the farm of Sunve in Voss, Norway and brought up in the religious tradition of Hans Nielsen Hauge. After his own religious awakening at the age of 25, he moved to Bergen, where he apprenticed as a carpenter and blacksmith and also enlisted in the army. He acted as a spiritual leader among his fellow soldiers, and in 1832, he accepted his first mission as a lay preacher. He traveled for several years extensively throughout Norway and also preached in Denmark where he was arrested and briefly imprisoned.

Immigration

Eielsen immigrated to the United States during 1839 and in 1843, he was formally ordained as a Lutheran minister. Under Eielsen's leadership, a house of worship for Norwegian Lutherans was constructed at Fox River Lutheran Church near Norway, Illinois. Eislsen was resident pastor at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement from 1846 to 1872. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Eielsen Synod) founded in 1846 at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement, was to bear his name. He remained with the synod over the next 30 years and also continued as pastor-at-large for Norwegian-American communities in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Texas.[1][2]

Eielsen was a leader in the Haugean pietistic state church reform movement which encouraged evangelism and vigorous lay leadership. His piety and reliance on lay leadership long remained a dominating influence for much of upper-Midwest Lutheranism.[3]

References

  1. ↑ A Synod of One: The Story of Immanuel Lutheran Church (by Karen Christofferson, December 1999, V. 19 No. 4. issue of In The Midst Of)
  2. ↑ The Promise of America. (Norwegian-American Historical Association)
  3. ↑ Norwegian Lutherans to celebrate founding of first church at Bergen. (Janesville, Wisconsin Gazette. September 27, 1924)

Additional sources

External links