wfn.org | News in brief

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

 ... Swiss mission boards to unite. The Cooperation of Protestant Churches
and Missions (KEM) will merge their mission boards next year. The KEM is
an association of seven missionary societies and all 16 cantonal churches
in German-, Italian- and Romanisch-speaking Switzerland. The united
mission board will now be a part of the Protestant aid agencies and
missions (EHM). The structure and date of the merger will be discussed in
1999.

 ... Horst Hirschler announces retirement. Horst Hirschler, the bishop of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hanover, Germany, and chairperson of
the German National Committee of  the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
will go into retirement in September 1999. Hirschler, 65, announced this
before the synod of his church. Since 1988, Hirschler had been the leader
of the largest German territorial church with its 3.3 million members and
presiding bishop of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany
since 1993.

 ... Finnish theologians want to enter secular labor market. In
future,University of Helsinki M.A. in theology graduates will seek better
work opportunities with secular employers. In a self-edited brochure, the
students of theology point out that they are not only suited for
congregational work and religious instruction. They indicate that
theological studies are "extremely diverse" and thus provide the students
with individual skills and abilities to assume responsibilities in society
that presuppose knowledge of culture, religions and the communication of
values. Thus theologians could profitably be employed in the field of 
media, associations and societies, public administration and culture.

 ... Hans Kung awarded Luther prize. The Roman Catholic theologian Hans
Kung has been awarded the prize "Das unerschrockene Wort" [Not afraid to
speak up] set up by 12 German Luther towns. According to the jury, Kung is
a tireless admonisher and innovator in the service of the unity of the
churches and was never afraid to speak up in spite of personal
disadvantages. From 1960 to 1996, the Swiss theologian Kung was the
chairperson for Catholic theology at the university of Tubingen (Germany)
and initiated the "Project world ethics". In 1979, due to his criticism of
the Roman Catholic Church the pope divested him of the permission to
teach. The prize will be awarded on 17 April 1999 in Eisenach.

 ... Finnish archbishop retires. At the end of November, the Finnish
archbishop John Vikstrom entered retirement. For 12 years, Vikstrom, 67,
had been archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. His
sharp statements on social issues drew a great deal of attention from
within and outside the church.

 ... Ambitious Bible translation program for  Nigeria. If everything goes
according to plan, 1999 will be a prolific year for new Scripture
publications in Nigeria, says the United Bible Society (UBS) World Report
for December 1998. "Fifty million Christians speaking more than 350
languages:" is the report's description of the context in which the Bible
Society of Nigeria carries out its ambitious program to publish new
versions of  the New Testament in 14 different languages. Several Portions
of the Bible are also planned including an experimental project to produce
one in Pidgin, a dialect of English. UBS notes that over the years, the
Bible and New Testament have been translated into many of the country's
languages. Most of the translation and publishing projects are based in
the south, where Christianity is especially strong.

 ... Australian Christians to visit Holy Land.The National Council of
Churches in Australia  (NCCA) is planning a visit to Israel/Palestine to
enable Christians in Australia to meet and make friends with indigenous
Christians there. According to the NCCA, the partnership visit will take
place from 11-24 January 1999 and will be led by Stephanie Tashkoff, who
worked with the Middle East Council of Churches in Jerusalem as an intern
in mission.

 ... Lutherans in the leadership of the World Council of Churches. The
Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Harare
from 4 to 13 December elected its presidents and decision-making bodies.
One of the eight presidents is a Lutheran: Eberhardt Renz, bishop of the
Evangelical Church in Wurttemberg, Germany. From 1994 to 1998 he was
member of the WCC Central Committee. The following representatives of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches have been elected to the
23-member Executive Committee: The Rev. Yadessa Daba, Ethiopian
Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, Ethiopia, and Rev. Anders Gadegaard,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Denmark. Lutherans make up 8.5
percent of the 150-member WCC Central Committee. The Orthodox families of
churches have the highest representation, with 24.6 percent. The Reformed
churches have 22 percent, the Methodists and the Anglicans 10 percent
each, United and Uniting 6.7 percent, Free, Pentecostal and African
Instituted 6.7 percent, the Baptists 4.7 percent, the Methodists 10
percent, and others 6.7 percent. Having adopted eight new member churches,
six from Africa and two from Asia, the WCC now has a membership of 339
Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches, bringing together an estimated
500 million believers.

 ... New general secretary for the Ecumenical Council in Hungary. Tibor
Gorog has been elected general secretary of the Ecumenical Council in
Hungary and will take up his appointment on 1 January 1999. The Hungarian
theologian, 52, already held this office before working as Europe
secretary for the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Geneva from 1988 to
1997. Bishop Bela Harmati, a member of the LWF Executive Committee and
chairperson for the Program Committee for Communication Services becomes
the council's new president, replacing Bishop Mih…ly Markus.

 ... What name for the unity of Netherlands Protestants?The three main
Protestant churches in The Netherlands are committed to the ongoing
process of integration but they have not come to an agreement about the
name that they should adopt for their common identity. For the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (ELCKN), the Dutch
Reformed and the Reformed churches , agreeing on a name for their process
of integration called, "Samen op Weg" ("Together on the Way"), is crucial
as the three have shared so many years of cooperation that it has become
impossible to disentangle the structures which have since grown and
developed from this relationship, writes lwi correspondent Jan H. Vos.
Three years ago, the three churches decided for the name, "United
Protestant Church in The Netherlands" but there was a setback when it came
to ratifying this decision. The Lutheran and the Reformed churches
ratified but the Dutch Reformed refused and proposed another name in which
the "Dutch Reformed" would be recognized. According to the lwi
correspondent, the reason for this shift is that the Dutch Reformed Church
fears that its orthodox wing, which has serious objections against losing
the traditional name "Dutch Reformed", will separate itself from the
church.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/