57 Neb. 510 | Neb. | 1899
The Evangelical Lutheran church in the United States is a descendant of the Lutheran church of the sixteenth century, — the first church of the reformation. It takes its name of Lutheran from-the great founder and apostle of Protestantism, and seems to have been called “Evangelical” to distinguish it from the Reformed or Calvinistic Lutherans. In the United States there are several families of this Lutheran church, — the Dutch Lutherans, the Swedish Lutherans, and the German Lutherans. The organic or fundamental creed of these various branches of the Lutheran church is the Augsburg Confession. The German Evangelical Lutheran churches in the United States are not all subject to one supreme jurisdiction; that is, no body, council, or conference of German Evangelical Lutherans is invested with the management and general supervision of all the German Evangelical Lutheran congregations in the United States. The congregations in any particular district or state, such as the congregations in the state of Nebraska, hold annually a synod for such district or state. This synod is. constituted of ordained ministers and licentiates of the various German Evangelical Lutheran congregations in the district. Just what the jurisdiction of this , district synod is does not clearly appear from the record before us, but it seems to be invested with the general supervision and control of the congregations within its district and with authority to determine disputes arising in the various congregations over matters of church discipline and ecclesiastical questions. There are also held at stated times in the United States certain synods. These synods are composed of delegates chosen from the district or state synods; and while the jurisdiction of.this last synod does not clearly appear, it seems to be in the nature of an ecclesiastical court of last resort for the various congregations over which it has jurisdiction. There are in the United States several of these synods,
In February, 1883, there resided in a neighborhood in Johnson county, in this state, a number of Germans professing the Lutheran faith, and at that time there came among these people a preacher or evangelist by the name of Grommish, who was a minister of the General synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, in the United States, and acknowledged the jurisdiction of such synod. This evangelist called together at the residence of one of them a number of these Gefman people, preached to them a sermon, and advised them to organize a congregation. A number of these Germans drew up a writing of that date in which they organized themselves into a-religious corporation under the laws of this state, to which they gave the name of “The Evangelical Lutheran St. John’s Church of West Sterling, Sterling, Johnson county, Nebraska.” This writing or article of association was duly filed in the office of the county clerk of said Johnson county. The congregation elected trustees and called the Rev.- Julius Wolf, a minister of the General synod, and made him its pastor. The congregation seems to have flourished for a number of years. It increased its membership. It purchased a small tract of land, ^nd erected thereon a building for church and school purposes, and made contributions to the missionary cause through the General synod. About 3894 the Rev. Wolf, by reason of ill-health and old age, tendered his resignation to this congregation as its pastor, and it was accepted. Thereupon a portion — a majority, it seems — of the congregation desired to select a minister from the Iowa synod. Another portion of the congregation — a minority, it seems — insisted that the pastor should come from the General synod, and over this question the congregation'was riven'into two factions. The theory of the minority was that the church, as originally founded, was organized and made subject to the jurisdic
Among other things Wehmer and others alleged that the congregation was originally organized and was still subject to the jurisdiction of the General synod; that the parties made defendants and those in sympathy with them were seeking .to transfer the jurisdiction of the congregation to the Iowa synod; that they were threatening and about to select as pastor a minister of the Iowa synod; that the parties made defendants had taken forcible possession of the church and church property and had excluded, were excluding, and would Continue to exclude Wehmer and others, or the minority faction, therefrom. On the hearing of this case the district court found generally and specially in favor of Wehmer and others; found that the church as originally organized was, and was still, subject to the jurisdiction of the General synod; that Wehmer and others were the legal trustees of the congregation of the church, entitled to the possession, custody, and control of its property; that the Iowa synod of the Lutheran church differed from the General synod of that church in essential matters of government, faith, and'belief; that all the acts of the parties defendant hereinbefore stated were illegal; that the majority faction had conspired together to transfer the jurisdiction of the congregation from the General to the Iowa synod; that the majority faction had called in ministers from the Iowa synod to conduct services in the church contrary to the organic law thereof, and had forcibly excluded the minority faction therefrom; and thereupon the court entered a. decree restraining the majority faction from keeping the minority faction out of possession of the church property and from selecting a minister for said church from the Iowa synod. From this decree Wilm Jannsen Fokenga and others have ap-pealed.
1. We assume, without deciding, that all the findings
2. But the district court found that the trustees representing the appellees here were the lawful trustees of the congregation and as such entitled to possession of the church property, and that the appellants were forcibly and wrongfully excluding the appellees therefrom. Assuming all this to be so, it does not follow that the appellees were entitled to the extraordinary remedy of injunction, either to regain possession of this church edifice or to exclude the appellants therefrom. For this relief the appellees had a complete and adequate remedy at Iuav, either by an action in the nature of forcible entry and detainer or by ejectment; and it is neither pleaded nor proved but that either of these remedies Avould afford the appellees complete and adequate relief. (Warlier v. Williams, 53 Neb. 143.)
3. Counsel for the appellees brought this case upon'tlie theory — and the district court seems to luwe adopted it— that the real estate Avliich belonged to this congregation Avas donated to it for the purpose of teaching and disseminating, not only the cardinal doctrines of the Lutheran church, the organic creed, to-wit, the Augsburg Confession, but the peculiar tenets of faith, already noticed, held by the congregations of the General synod; and that for this congregation to transfer its allegiance to and become subject to the jurisdiction of the Iowa synod Avould divert the trust property from the purpose for which it
Reversed and dismissed.