wfn.org | LWF receives 66 written responses to Joint Declaration

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

 on Doctrine of Justification by May 1

GENEVA, 4 May 1998 - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) received 66
written responses to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
between Lutherans and Roman Catholics, by May 1. Of the total number of 124
LWF member churches 122 have the right to vote.

Fifteen written responses from the 26 African LWF member churches include
12 positive responses, two negative and one signifying both yes and no. One
of the largest African Lutheran churches, The Ethiopian Evangelical Church
Mekane Yesus with 2,274,209 members, unanimously accepted the declaration
as early as January. The 1,500,000-member Malagasy Lutheran Church has
rejected the document. The results from Nigeria differed. The
575,000-member Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria accepted the Joint
Declaration while the 85,000-member Lutheran Church of Nigeria voted
against it.

Twelve responses were received from Asia, only one of them negative, that
of the Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church in Japan.

Unanimous acceptance of the Joint Declaration can be recorded in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Nine of the 14 voting member churches in this
region, strongly marked by the presence of the Roman Catholic Church, voted
in favor of the ecumenical document, including the region's largest
Lutheran church, the Evangelical Church of the
Lutheran Confession in Brazil with its membership of over one million.

Twenty-six responses were received from Europe. Like the Lutheran Church in
Liberia, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark agrees to the lifting
of the condemnations but does not consider the consensus on doctrinal
issues to be sufficient.

Both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Canada agreed to the declaration. The Estonian
Evangelical Lutheran Church adopted the Joint Declaration, while the
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad, headquartered in Canada,
rejected it.

May 1 was the official deadline set for the LWF member churches to send in
their responses to the Joint Declaration. But, even before that date,
several LWF member churches informed the LWF that because of internal
planning their responses would arrive only after the official deadline. The
synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for example - the
second largest European LWF member church - will vote on the document only
this week. The response of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover also
is still to come.

According to assistant general secretary for ecumenical affairs, Sven
Oppegaard, all responses that arrive before the June 8-17 LWF Council
meeting, to be held in Geneva, will be taken into consideration. According
to Oppegaard, there also have been a number of verbal responses. In these
cases, an official response is still required.

All responses will be analyzed by the Institute for Ecumenical Research in
Strasbourg. A report will be presented to the LWF Council via the Standing
Committee for Ecumenical Affairs. The council will then take a final
decision on the Joint Declaration in June.Last year, the LWF member
churches were asked whether they accept "the conclusions reached in 40 and
41 of the JD and thus join in affirming that, because of the agreement on
the fundamental meaning and truth of our justification in Christ to which
the JD testifies, the condemnations regarding justification in the Lutheran
Confessions do not apply to the teaching on justification of the Roman
Catholic Church presented in the JD".

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/