wfn.org | European churches face challenges of new millennium

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

Passing on faith to next generation a key concern

MEISSEN, Germany/GENEVA, 1 October 1999 (lwi) - One of the key questions
being posed at the European Church Leaders' Conference took place in
Meissen, Germany, Sept. 26 to 30, is what can the churches impart to the
world, and particularly to Europe, as the second millennium ends and the
third begins.

For Bishop Volker Kress of the conference's host church, the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Saxony, three things are significant: The churches
and cathedrals to be found in almost every European village; the Ten
Commandments which he described as the God-originated age-old agreement
among people to live harmoniously; and, the Lord's Prayer which he
referred to as the "shortest summary of our beautiful faith". He added
that "whoever prays the Lord's Prayer knows enough about God."

Delivering his address based on the subject: "The future of the church,
and the church of the future", Bishop Kress presented the experiences
and conditions of being a church in the eastern part of Germany
(formerly East Germany under the then socialist system). The church's
Evangelical Academy is the meeting place of the conference.

He said one of the challenges facing the church in this region
especially at the dawn of the new millennium is how to pass on "our
marvelous faith" to the next generation. While four decades of socialism
led to a far-reaching breakup of the folk church tradition in the
eastern part of Germany, the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, effectively
ending the divide between the Eastern and Western blocs, brought only
momentarily an upsurge of people into the churches but no mass return to
the church has taken place.

In this part of Germany about 25 percent of the population have a
confessional commitment to the church. However, of great concern is the
remaining 75 percent which comprises at least two generations which have
never had any contact with the church in their lives. "They have no idea
at all of what Christ and the cross are, or signify," Bishop Kress
observed.

Comparing the situation with that before unification, Kress told the 60
church leaders that although the church-the Evangelical Church in
Germany (EKD)-in the western part of Germany may say "the time has come
to re-enter the church" in view of the large numbers of people alienated
from the faith one can, at least, still count on a distant memory of the
church and faith. However, in the eastern part, the "church is an alien
homeland" for the overwhelming majority. According to the Saxony bishop,
it is a matter of entering the church for the first time ever, a
situation which poses an enormously difficult missionary situation and
challenge.

Bishop Kress said it is significant to note that at the turn of the
century, faith and belonging to the church no longer happen by
themselves but instead involve a struggle. The church of the future
cannot afford to be indifferent to the fact that people do not easily
become committed church members. It "must be a church struggling for
committed membership in the body of Christ."

 Another concern shared by Kress was the perception of mission and
church as an institution. Mission, he said, should not be understood
simply as a way of creating sympathy for the church. At stake "for us is
the membership in the body of Christ, baptism and life in and with the
church."

He explained that from his own and other pastors' experience, it is
evident that people who in certain ways convey their sympathy with the
church are not ready to become members of the church. The bishop
recalled a younger pastor in Saxony telling him: "I have much contact
with people in my village. I feel many people do indeed appreciate me,
but I cannot bring them to come to church."

But there are astonishing exceptions. Each year, Christmas eve services
all over Saxony attract thousands of people, church music particularly
reaches a large and varied anonymous public, yet it does not lead to a
committed step towards the church. When one reflects on the church of
the future and the future of the church, overcoming the tension between
mission and institution is a subject that must be dealt with.

The Saxony church, a member of the LWF since 1947, currently has a
membership of more than one million people.

(The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of Lutheran
churches. Founded in 1947, the LWF now has 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 which meets every six
or seven years. Between Assemblies the LWF is governed by a 49-member
Council which meets annually, and by its Executive Committee.)

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