The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. Despite a significant yearly loss of members (larger than 1% annually), with 67.5% or 6,446,729 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of the Evangelical Church in Germany (10 million). Until 2000 it held the position of state church. Approximately 2% of the church’s members regularly attend Sunday services. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2009, 17% of the Swedish population considered religion as an important part of their daily life. The Church of Sweden is commonly known for its liberal position in theological issues and in question of homosexuality. When Bishop Eva Brunne was consecrated as Bishop of Stockholm in 2009 she became the first openly lesbian bishop in the world.
The Church of Sweden, by law, is organized in the following manner:
- It is an Evangelical Lutheran community of faith manifested in parishes and dioceses. The church also has a national organisation.
- It is an open national church which, working with a democratic organisation and through the ministry of the church, covers the whole nation.
The Primate of the Church of Sweden is the Archbishop of Uppsala, currently Anders Wejryd.
