wfn.org | News in brief

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

 ... Canadian church forgives over USD 200,000 in mortgage interest. The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada's (ELCIC's) commitment to the aims
of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative (CEJI), which among other
things calls for debt reduction for poor nations, has taken on new
meaning for 13 of its ministries. They have been forgiven a total of CAD
300,819 (USD 203,421) in mortgage interest additions that were made to
their mortgage accounts between 1991 and 1998. Meanwhile, delegates
attending the ELCIC Seventh Biennial Convention from 7 to 11 July 1999
in Regina, Canada appealed to all levels  of government to redress the
growing reality of child poverty. Other issues on public policy endorsed
at the convention included an appeal for a federal inquiry into the
impact of state-sponsored gambling. Among constitutional changes
approved at the convention was the establishment of a roster of lay
diaconal ministers. Rejected by delegates was an attempt to change the
election of the Editor of the church's magazine, Canada Lutheran, to a
National Church Council (NCC) appointment. The editor's term of election
was changed from two to four years.

 ... Ghanaian to head the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The
Executive Committee of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)
meeting in Taipei, Taiwan on July 5 1999, elected Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi
as the new General Secretary of WARC. He is the first non-European to be
appointed to that position. The 45 year-old Ghanaian currently works
with the continental ecumenical body, the All Africa Conference of
Churches (AACC) as a senior executive with responsibility for Theology,
Education and Family Life, and coordinator of the Selfhood of the Church
Unit. He will take up his WARC appointment in March 2000, replacing
Czech theologian Dr. Milan Opocensky. A minister of the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Nyomi holds a Master's degree from Yale
University Divinity School, United States of America. His doctorate in
pastoral theology was awarded by Princeton Theological Seminary, also in
the USA. He is married to Akpene Esther Nyomi, and they have three
children. Established in 1875, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches
links more than 75 million Christians in over 100 countries around the
world. It is a fellowship of more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian,
Reformed and United churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation
led by Jean Calvin, John Knox and others. Like the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), WARC's
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

 ... Leading Danish mission societies to merge. The Board of Directors
of two of the largest Danish mission societies, the Danish Missionary
Society and the Danish Santal Mission have agreed to merge under the
name "Danmission". According to the Danish Missionary Society (DMS)
General Secretary Rev. Harald Nielsen, this decision is expected to be
ratified by the Boards of Representatives of the two missions later this
year. The merger can therefore take place on 1 January 2000. In a
statement availed to lwi, the DMS general secretary says the merger
builds on a mutual will to give up particular traditions and
organizational cultures of the two mission societies, so as to "serve
even better our common mission, God's mission." Nielsen adds that with
the creation of Danmission, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark
will have at its disposal "a new powerful tool for mission in Asia, the
Middle East, Africa and Denmark." A member of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), the Danish church has over 4.5 million members,
representing more than 90 per cent of the country's population.

 ... New editor for the ELCA magazine. The Church wide Assembly of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) at its meeting from 16 to
22 August 1999, is expected to vote on the nomination of the Rev. David
L. Miller as the next editor of the church's The Lutheran magazine.
According to the church's information service, ELCA News, if the
assembly elects Miller, he will succeed the Rev. Edgar R. Trexler on
November 1 1999. The out going editor is retiring after 34 years with
the magazine. Miller, 46, is senior editor of the monthly magazine and
has been on the periodical's staff since its beginning in 1988. The
Lutheran has a circulation of 625,000, making it the largest
denominational periodical in the United States.

 ... World YWCA gets new president. At the World Council held in Cairo,
Egypt from 18 to 24 July 1999, the World Young Women's Christian
Association (YWCA), elected Jane Wolfe as the organization's president
for the next four years. Ms. Wolfe has been a YWCA leader since 1969,
when she was first elected to the board of the association in her
hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America. She has
been a member of the World YWCA Executive Committee since 1992, serving
as a vice-president since 1995. Wolfe replaces Anita Andersson from
Sweden. The World YWCA is the largest and oldest women's movement in the
world, uniting 25 million women and girls in over 100 countries through
95 affiliated autonomous national associations. The current general
secretary, Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro from Kenya, served as secretary for Women
in Church and Society (WICAS) with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for Mission and Development (DMD) from 1988 to January 1998.

 ... Croatian church leader Dr.Vlado Ladislav Deutsch passes away.
Dr.Vlado Ladislav Deutsch, the long serving senior of the Evangelical
Church in Croatia passed away on 15 July 1999. Born in 1929, Deutsch
even under difficult conditions dedicated his life to the service of the
Croatian church. He was one of the founders of the Theology Faculty at
the university in the capital, Zagreb, where he taught dogmatic and
church history.

 ... Christians receive key to Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The 800-year-old privilege enjoyed by two Muslim families, Nusseibeh and
Dschudeh, ? controlling the key to the only entrance to Jerusalem's
Church of the Holy Sepulchre ? is expected to end when a new exit is
created under the control of the respective owners of the historic
church. It was Sultan Saladin who gave the key for keeping with the two
families in the 12th century after he drove the crusaders out of
Jerusalem. Today the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belongs jointly to the
Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians. The
Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches also have the right to
claim specific parts of the church. According to a report by the
Catholic news service, KNA, after five years of argument, the three
largest Christian churches in Jerusalem have finally agreed that a new
exit should be created. However, it still seems to be unclear where the
opening should be made. What is certain is that as soon as the second
door is available, the key will be handed over to representatives of the
churches. KNA reports that the reason for having another door in the
church is the large numbers of visitors and pilgrims expected in
Jerusalem during the year 2000. The authorities consider having only a
single door to be too great a security risk, especially during Christmas
and Easter when thousands of pilgrims stream into the church. The Church
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is one of the most ancient Christian
pilgrimage sites. In recent years increasing numbers of people believe
that Christ is actually buried in this place.

 ... Martin Luther's works in French. Forty three of Martin Luther's
writings from the years 1515 to 1523 were recently published in a French
translation. A third of the texts are appearing in French for the first
time. The other texts have been thoroughly reworked and revised for this
edition. A full critical structure, as well as a precise and detailed
chronology, extending to 400 pages altogether, complete the new edition.
The book, edited by Marc Lienhard and Matthieu Arnold, is the first
volume in a series of Martin Luther's writings. Especially significant
is the publication of the Luther edition by Gallimard in its famous "La
Pliiade" series, which includes critical editions of the works of
classical French authors such as Montaigne and Rabelais.

 ... Weimariana translated into Chinese. The Reformer Martin Luther's
writings will be available in future also in Chinese. The United
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) reports that more than
100 volumes of the "Weimariana", the scholarly Weimar edition of Martin
Luther's works, are aboard a ship bound for Hong Kong. The translations
into Chinese will be done at the Lutheran College there.

 ... Nation in Controversy. "Nation" is a concept which arouses very
differing sometimes-contradictory feelings. What to some people is
almost holy is for others an abyss, thus a controversial topic for
discussion. "Nation in Controversy" is the title of a joint study by the
Ecumenical Study Committee of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Germany (VSTA/VELKD) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) National
Committee in Germany published by Guthersloh Press. The background of
the study is the experience of the last ten years in Germany, since the
fall of the Berlin Wall. However current discussions regarding dual
citizenship and an immigration law in Germany call for examination of
the concept of nation. The study's authors place this polarized public
discussion, which sometimes has pseudo-religious aspects, in the
Lutheran perspective by means of the doctrine of two spheres with its
powers of distinction. The study itself is followed in this book, by
papers and lectures on specific aspects of nationality. The focus on the
German experience with this problem, in many ways a very particular
context, was surely necessary. However, one may well ask how the issue
is being seen and discussed in similar ways in other European contexts
and worldwide.

 ... Luther's Bible in the new German spelling. As of 29 June 1999,
Luther's translation of the Bible is available in the printed version
according to the new rules for spelling in German, this was announced by
the German Bible Society in Stuttgart. This new edition was prepared by
a committee of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), because Luther's
Bible is used as a textbook in German schools. However, conversion to
the new spelling was not done mechanically. Where the rules of the
spelling reform allowed a choice between the old and new forms, the
traditional spelling was retained. But in a few places small substantive
corrections have been made, such as "Frauen" (women) instead of the
earlier word "Weiber", now regarded as derogatory.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee.)

[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented
does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the
material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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