wfn.org | Church Workers Challenged to Identify Root Causes

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

Church Workers Challenged to Identify Root Causes of Poverty,
HIV/AIDS
LWF Consultation on "Prophetic Diakonia - For the Healing of the
World" Opens in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa/GENEVA, 4 November 2002 (LWI) *
Identification of root causes should precede the strategies to
overcome poverty, violence and HIV/AIDS. This was the message in
the sermon delivered by Prof. Simon Maimela, during the opening
worship of a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) global consultation
on diakonia in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday.

"Like a good doctor, churches should look at the causes of the
illness of poverty," Maimela, formerly with the University of
South Africa, said. "Root causes of poverty should be identified,
only then can strategies be put in place," he stressed.

 From November 3-7, more than 80 participants from Lutheran
its national and international context. The conference will also
focus on new possibilities for the understanding and practice of
churches and partner organizations worldwide will examine the
critical issues of violence, poverty and HIV/AIDS.
different understandings of diakonia (church social service) in
diakonia in view of the continuous challenge of responding to the

Maimela's call was supported by the official welcoming statement
by Presiding Bishop Louis Sibiya of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA). "Poverty is man-made," he said,
"and it is important that the root causes of suffering are arrived
at and addressed. Speaking as an African Christian it is important
that we now engage in a dialogue with government to be serious
with the democratization of the continent. A lack of democratic
development has been accompanied by a lack of economic
development, social upliftment and human growth."

The ELCSA bishop said South Africa was regarded as an appropriate
place for an international consultation on diakonia, because "you
have both worlds here. The technological advances associated with
the first world are all here, but there are also the conditions,
which are typical of the third world. I believe that even during
your short stay you will have seen what I am talking about."

Sibiya was referring to field visits conducted by participants to
different diaconal institutions in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique,
Zimbabwe and South Africa. Ms. Agneta Ucko, LWF Deputy General
Secretary, considered these visits as a good start for the
conference, pointing to the topic of practical diakonia as well as
to the theme of the 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly "For the Healing of
the World." Welcoming participants to the conference, Ucko
expressed the hope that the plenary and the working group sessions
would come up with a new message for the ministry of the churches.

Mr. Robert Granke, Director of the LWF Department for World
Service (DWS), who also greeted participants during the welcoming
program, noted that the consultation on diakonia was the effort of
interdepartmental planning and preparation in the LWF - the DWS,
and Departments for Mission and Development and Theology and
Studies - all brought "own ideas, own interests and own needs
together into this important gathering in the life of the LWF."
Granke expects the consultation to "reconfirm diakonia as a
fundamental dimension of the identity of the mission of the church
and to articulate a renewed understanding and vision of prophetic
diakonia - one that leads us to more effective responses to the
critical challenges facing our church and societies as a whole."

For further information on the LWF Diakonia Consltation in
Johannesburg, please contact Dirk-Michael Groetzsch, German Editor
(Lutheran World Information), Mobile Phone: +27 (0)82.513.2982 or
+41.78.720.8021, E-Mail: dmg@lutheranworld.org or the LWF Office
for Communication Services, P.O. Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2,
Switzerland, Tel: +41.22.791.6354, Fax: +41.22.791.6630, E-Mail:
info@lutheranworld.org.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing over 61.7
million of the 65.4 mllion Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) 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
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
English Editor: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30
http://www.lutheranworld.org/