The first Estonian Church Congress took place in the Treffner Gymnasium hall on 31 May 1917. It was opened by the oldest pastor, Villem Eisenschmidt. The pastor of the Tartu St.Peter's congregation opened the congress in front of over 300 representatives of congregations. The grey-haired old man had chosen the following words of Jesus on which to base his speech: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8,31-32). The Christian aspirations for freedom, this date and congress can be considered the birth of Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church as a free people's church in Estonia, which would soon be independent.

The representatives of congregations were brought together to Tartu by their common desire to hold and keep their homes, to free themselves from alien power. In times of great changes and in the midst of disintegrating Russia, the Estonians expressed their ardent wish and determination to build their own homes, to organise and develop their church life, as they themselves thought right.

Although it took years to work out and establish an essentially different form of self-government and free people's church, it was done with the firm purpose of improving the life of society and people. It was done with the aim of serving people through proclaiming the Gospel, administering of the sacrament, and love. Church as the union of faith and love saw its task in Christian education, in order to rise a new generation who would be sound in faith and morals and feel responsibility in front of God and the fellow men. No notion can survive and develop without a strong religious and moral backbone.

The people's church means that it embodies the majority of population and that the foundation of its organisation are congregations and their members who send elected representatives to the governing bodies of congregations and the church. It also means being open to the outside and internally united and unanimous in beliefs and attitudes and in the variety of the types of devoutness. To see oneself as people's church is to recognise and appreciate one's heritage and to fulfil the task of mission in conditions and among people where God has chosen us to live and work as a church, congregation and a Christian. This task requires the purposeful and responsible co-operation between all the members of congregations, councils and boards. For that, God has called every one of us.

In order to understand the everyday life and activities of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, it is perhaps necessary to know a few facts about its distant and recent past.

Although the first contacts of Estonians with Christianity are more than one thousand years old, the organised church activity began only in the 13th century when there were three episcopates on Estonian territory with their cathedrals and cathedral chapters (Tallinn 1229, Tartu 1224, Haapsalu 1263). By the end of the 15th century, Estonia had 94 church parishes with a network of churches and chapels, and 15 monasteries.

The Lutheran Reformation established itself in Estonia in 1524, bringing along sermons in the Estonian language. As a result of the movement and the work of the Moravian brothers, it was possible to admit, in the 19th century, that the formal church establishment had become a considerable source of power and its spiritual way of life the basis of Christian life.

The church in Estonia that had so far functioned according to the laws of Swedish and Russian church, became after the First Church Congress in 1917 (31 May and 1 June) the Free People's Church. For the first time it united the 127 Lutheran congregations and their approximately 920 000 members.
The Second World War and the ensuing 45 years of Soviet occupation with its atheist propaganda and hostile attitude towards church ruined the authority of the church, alienated it from the majority of people and denied the nation the possibility to learn Christian values.

EELC Abroad

In autumn 1944, about 70 00 - 80 000 Estonians were forced to leave behind their homes and flee the country because of the approaching communist Red Army.
The number of refugee Lutherans is considered to be approximately 60 000. Among them were Archbishop Johan Kõpp in Sweden and assistant bishop Johannes Oskar Lauri in Germany, together with 72 pastors, a few members of consistory, 12 graduates and undergraduates of theology.

Foreseeing difficult and confusing times, the EELC General Synod passed a resolution in 1943 where "the EELC archbishop is authorised, in case the EELC General Synod or the EELC Consistory is not able to hold a meeting, to make decisions on behalf of the EELC General Synod or EELC Consistory which will have the same authority as if they had been made by the EELC General Synod or the EELC Consistory". On the basis of this authorisation, Archbishop Johan Kõpp founded in Stockholm the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Committee. This was the beginning of orderly functioning of the EELC abroad, registering of congregations in Stockholm, the centre of church life. Using the same authorisation, the EELC, under the leadership of bishop Kõpp, takes part in the founding congress of the Lutheran World Federation in Lund in 1947, where the EELC is put down in the founding members' list. The same occurs next year in Amsterdam where the World Council of Churches is being established.

On 31 June 1947, bishop Kõpp sent a circular to all the pastors of registered congregations, one part of which says: "The general attitude of the exile church should be that the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church is essentially one and the same church and although it is temporarily split up into many parts, it has the same basis for teaching and follows the EELC Statutes as strictly as possible in any given situation. Congregations, religious groupings or unions should all come together and form districts in order to serve their fellow countrymen in their religious need."
In addition to the above-mentioned circular, the exile EELC's general work principles were soon written down and distributed between congregations. The principles stressed that the EELC in exile is an independent self-governing church which functions on democratic grounds, calls together congregations, ordains the pastors, holds services and carries out religious ceremonies according to the Service Book, the Statutes and the established order. One of the main aims is to proclaim the Gospel in the Estonian language and maintain the church of our forefathers for the future when we can hand it on to the next generations, sound and unified both outside and inside, and not split up into many different parts.

On 30 January 1957, relying again on the authorisation given to him in 1943, bishop Kõpp decides to replace the word 'bishop' with the word 'archbishop', and 'assistant bishop' with 'bishop'. In 1953, the EELC congregations began to unite into deaneries. According to the decree of the Consistory, the first deanery was established in England, then in Sweden, and in late 1953 also in the USA. The Chicago deanery in the USA was established in 1954. During the '70s, deaneries were formed in Canada, Germany and Australia. In 1976, Canadian dean Karl Raudsepp is ordained the EELC bishop, with special mission in North America.

It is also decreed that the General Synod pass resolutions by written votes, where each congregation has one vote. The EELC Consistory or church government is officially established, always located at the archbishop's residence. Archbishop Johan Kõpp became emeritus only a few months before his 90th birthday, and on 26 May 1964, bishop Johannes Oskar Lauri was elected the new archbishop. The Consistory remained in Stockholm, and a number of assessors from Sweden and USA also belonged to it. They take upon themselves the difficult task of compiling the code of church laws that would contain all rules and regulatory norms concerning church work that were approved between 1933 and 1980. The result was "The Church Law Handbook" which introduces the rules of functioning of Estonian people's church in exile. This publication has been well received and recognised in many countries and world organisations where the EELC is considered as a lawfully functioning church.
Archbishop Johannes Lauri retired from office before his 80th birthday and on 6 December 1971, the EELC General Synod appointed Konrad Veem, pastor of the Stockholm congregation and assistant dean of the Swedish deanery as the new archbishop. He was ordained on 18 June 1972 in the Stockholm St.Jacob's church.

Huge distances where the area of one congregation has been almost the size of Estonia itself have hindered the work of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church and its congregations. But the work has been made easier by our firm conviction that we want to be and are Estonians who belong to the Estonian church. When during 1948 - 1951, many Estonians moved on from Sweden, England and Germany mainly to the cities and villages of North America, the local congregations and churches insisted that our people should join their Lutheran congregations. Estonians declined their offer and immediately began to establish congregations in their mother tongue. After a while when the local congregations saw that the Estonians were quite determined in their wish, they helped to finance the buying or building of new churches. Estonian congregations belonged to Estonian churches but at the same time they indirectly belonged also to the churches of their country of residence. This gave our church a legal status in those countries. Nevertheless, the EELC retained its Statutes, which in reality did not much differ from that of other Lutheran countries.
It is not possible here to enumerate all publications that have been produced over the years. At first it was essentially necessary literature: for children, young people, confirmands, religious textbooks, Martin Luther catechism, prayer books for the young etc. In addition, collections of sermons and exegeses were published. The Consistory newspaper "Estonian Church" has appeared without interruption until today.

Sixteen people have obtained theological education in universities and seminaries of their resident countries. Four-five of them began to serve local congregations but the majority went to work in the EELC congregations. The EELC set up a Theological Institute, which initially operated in Stockholm, and since 1978 in Toronto. At the head of the Institute have been Dr. Arthur Võõbus, Bishop Karl Raudsepp, Tõnis Nõmmik (AM) and Dr. Andres Taul. In recent years, some lecturers have come from Estonia. 21 pastors have been ordained at the Institute. The total number of new pastors in Estonian exile church is 37.

Archbishop Konrad Veem retired in 1990. On 1 September 1990 the EELC Church Council elected Udo Petersoo, the dean of Canada and pastor of the Toronto St. Andrew's congregation to replace him.
The EELC today has about 15 700 members who are divided into 63 congregations and who are served by 34 pastors.