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Slovenia

Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia

Who is the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia and what are its ministries? The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia (ECACS), a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), belongs to the Augsburg denomination. It includes 13 parishes with approximately 18,000 members. The beginnings of the Evangelical Church movement go back to the 16th century when the Slovene representatives of the reformation movement laid the foundation of the Slovene language and published the first printed Bibles, catechisms, and primers in the Slovene language.

The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia issues a monthly magazine, “Evangelicanski list” (Protestant News) and the calendar “Evangelicanski koledar” (Protestant Calendar). The church is also a member of the International Protestant Association and the European Council of Churches.

The women of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia play an active role in the life and ministry of the church. For the last five years, a dynamic group of women at congregations or wider parish levels have organized handicraft workshops. These workshops have a two-fold aim: to serve as a social point for congregation members, and to serve as a market and exhibition stall for items that generate income for the church’s regular or specialized work. Handicrafts include items such as candles of all shapes and sizes, which have been shared with companions across the ocean through the Lutheran World Federation.

How do the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America accompany one another in ministry?

Through the churchwide ELCA Global Mission unit, the ELCA relates to and is in bilateral relationship with over 80 companion churches and institutions. The ELCA Global Mission unit stewards a church-to-church relationship with the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovenia.

This relationship is deepened and extended by ECACS' relationship, through the ELCA Companion Synods program, with the Northeast Pennsylvania Synod.

Churchwide funding through the ELCA Global Mission unit supports key priorities of the companion, including a grant for a new center for ecumenism.

Slovenia: The context in which the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Slovenia serves

A country with spectacular mountains, thick forests and a short Adriatic coastline, Slovenia also enjoys substantial economic and political stability. It was the only one of the former Yugoslav republics to be in the first wave of candidates for membership of the European Union. It joined in May 2004. Just a couple of months before EU entry, Slovenia became a member of Nato.

Unlike Croatia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia was relatively bloodless. The move was undoubtedly aided by Western European recognition of the Slovenes' aspirations and the low proportion of other ethnic groups in the country.

Slovenia has always been the most prosperous region of the former Yugoslavia and has found the transition from a socialist economy to the capitalist free market easier than most. It became the first former communist bloc country to join the eurozone on 1 January 2007.