wfn.org | LWF Council approves plan for Joint Declaration follow-up

[FRANK.IMHOFF@ecunet.org]

LWF COUNCIL MEETING, TURKU, FINLAND, 14-21 JUNE 2000
PRESS RELEASE NO. 18

TURKU, Finland/GENEVA, 21 June 2000 (LWI) - The Council of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) has approved a plan of action for the follow-up
of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

The Joint Declaration follow-up action plan was also one of the subjects
that elicited heightened participatory discussions among the Council
members, advisors, ecumenical observers and guests at the meeting in
Turku, Finland from 14 to 21 June 2000. Concern revolved around
activities that are already in place in many regions as a result of the
Joint Declaration process, the next steps in the near future and a
long-term vision. The declaration
was signed by the LWF and Roman Catholic Church in Augsburg, Germany on
31 October 1999.

After hearing the report of its Standing Committee for Ecumenical
Affairs presented by the committee's vice-chairperson, Finnish bishop,
Eero Huovinen, the Council recommended that the regional and national
work on the Joint Declaration follow-up, with attention to the pastoral
and liturgical dimensions of the effort, be encouraged and ways be found
to share their results within the LWF and the wider ecumenical
community.

Further the Council recommended that the ongoing work of the Lutheran -
Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and the coordinating role of the
Joint Staff Meeting between the LWF and the Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) be recognized as foundational for the
follow-up.

Council members also recommended that the Institute for Ecumenical
Research (Strasbourg) be encouraged to initiate a joint process of
theological reflection on topics of sin, cooperation and good works as
raised by the Joint Declaration, together with the Roman Catholic,
Johann-Adam-Moehler-Institut (Paderborn), with involvement of regional
and local groups of theologians,

Further recommendations include the organization by the LWF and the
PCPCU, of a joint consultation on the Biblical basis of the doctrine of
justification. The Council acknowledged with gratitude the plan of the
PCPCU to organize a joint consultation on the issue of indulgences.

It was resolved also that the plan of the Program Committee for Theology
and Studies to continue the work on the present understanding of
justification in different contexts be welcomed in the wider process of
follow-up of the Joint Declaration.

The Council at its meeting in Turku further agreed that an
inner-Lutheran task force on the follow-up of the Joint Declaration be
convened to work on the long-term vision of the ecumenical work of the
LWF, to prepare a plan for the continued coordination of the various
activities contributing to the follow-up of the Joint Declaration, to
plan a consultation on these tasks together with the Office for
Ecumenical Affairs, and to submit a report to the Council Meeting in
2001.

It was further recommended that the General Secretary, with the
concurrence of the chairpersons of the Program Committee for Theology
and Studies, and that of the Standing Committee for Ecumenical Affairs,
and of the Board of the Institute for Ecumenical Research Strasbourg, be
asked to convene the task force.

On cooperation between the LWF and the World Council of Churches (WCC)
the Council
recommended that steps be taken already in the planning of the upcoming
LWF
Assembly to explore possible ways of co-ordinating the themes, the
development of
preparatory material, reporting and follow up of the different
assemblies.

The Council resolved that the LWF General Secretary convey to the WCC a
need for better coordination of its assemblies with those of regional
ecumenical organizations (REOs), and that an evaluation be made of the
LWF Hong Kong Assembly in view of what should be learned from ecumenical
experience.

Following the Standing Committee's report on the Institute for
Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, the Council recommended that the
importance of the continued work of the Institute be recognized and
emphasized, and that efforts be continued in view of securing the
financial basis in the future for the theological work carried out by
the Institute.

The General Secretary was asked to consider how the Council could to a
greater extent take part in discussions and decisions on priorities when
the budget is insufficient to finance activities previously decided
upon.

(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59 million of the world's 63 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. The LWF secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
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presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its
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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
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