wfn.org | Bishop Szarek: Lutheran church in Poland to build up social services

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

Today's "biggest challenge"

BIELSKO-BIALA, Poland/GENEVA, 20 August 1998 (lwi) - Today, the "biggest
challenge" for Lutherans in Poland is the building up of social services in
the church. Speaking during an interview with the Evangelische Pressedienst
(EPD) held in Bielsko-Biala in southern Poland, the bishop of the
Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, Jan Szarek
(Warsaw), stated that Lutheran Christians can be "credible witnesses" only
if they engage in social work. The aid to the needy must be organized
afresh in congregations and dioceses. Further, an umbrella organization
comparable to the Diakonisches Werk (Social Service Agency) in the Federal
Republic of Germany is planned.

At the same time, social and counseling centers are to be set up within
congregations, Szarek added. At the present time, the Lutheran church runs
eight old people's homes with about 300 residents. During the communist
rule in Poland, for political reasons, the church's social work was limited
to old people's and neighborhood care.

Szarek again spoke up for the ordination of women. His hope is that the
synod will accept a motion confirming this. As he stressed, there are no
biblical arguments to support rejecting the ordination of women. Neither is
there any reason to fear a deterioration of the ecumenical climate in
Poland. Szarek, who also chairs the Polish Ecumenical Council, emphasized
that the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics have long been aware that in
Protestant churches women can become pastors.

According to data provided by the bishop, the Evangelical Lutheran church
in Poland has about 85,000 members in 129 congregations. After the Orthodox
church with some 800,000 members, the Lutheran Church is the second largest
minority church in Poland. It is concentrated in the Cieszyn area in
southern Silesia where about half of the Lutheran Christians live. Of
Poland's total population of about 38 million, over 90 percent belong to
the Roman Catholic Church.

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