wfn.org | ELCA Delegation Meets Lutherans in Great Britain

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 3, 2003

ELCA DELEGATION MEETS LUTHERANS IN GREAT BRITAIN
03-070-JB

     LONDON (ELCA) -- Lutherans in Great Britain are a diverse
denomination, consisting of multiple communities established by people
from other European countries, said the Rev. Tom Bruch, general
secretary, Lutheran Council of Great Britain.  Bruch spoke March 29 here
to an ecumenical delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), noting that Lutherans have been in this country since
the 17th century.
     The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and 18 other ELCA
leaders, bishops, Church Council members, pastors, staff and church
members made up the delegation.  The ELCA group also met here with
leaders of the Anglican Communion and Church of England.  The delegation
traveled with Hanson as he met international church leaders in Europe
during a 17-day "ecumenical journey" March 14-31.
     The Lutheran Council was established in 1948 to work with Lutheran
communities.  People from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great
Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden established
their own Lutheran congregations here, Bruch said.  Today, Lutheran
Council congregations have a total of 40 clergy, with as many as 100,000
baptized Lutherans on the rolls, he said.
     "The main glue which holds these communities together is language
and culture," Bruch said.
     The Lutheran Council, with representation from each of the
Lutheran communities here, provides financial and practical support to
congregations, educational and spiritual programs, mission support,
ecumenical representation and cooperation, communication, chaplaincy
services and conference facilities.
     The council's most significant ministry is its International
Lutheran Student Center here, which provides housing to some 80
postgraduate students, most of whom attend the University of London,
Bruch said.
     In recent years, international ecumenical agreements have helped
gain some visibility for the small Lutheran community here.  For
example, the 1999 signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification (JDDJ) in which the Lutheran World Federation and the
Vatican reached agreement on the meaning of justification, made a
difference for British Lutherans, Bruch said.
     "The JDDJ gave Lutherans a legitimacy in Great Britain they never
had before," he told the ELCA delegation.
     In addition, many Lutheran clergy are invited to lead worship in
Anglican congregations --  with local permission -- because of a full
communion agreement between Lutherans in several European countries and
the Church of England, said the Rev. Lennart Sjostrom, a Lutheran pastor
from Sweden who chairs the Lutheran Council.  The Church of England is
part of the international Anglican Communion.  Sjostrom was recently
named an honorary canon of St. Paul's (Anglican) Cathedral here.
     The Rev. Jennifer Welsh, an Anglican priest, was recently called
to serve as Lutheran student chaplain for the Lutheran Council.
     Following a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral, the ELCA delegation
attended a special worship service March 29 at the Lutheran Church of
St. Anne and St. Agnes.  The English-speaking congregation worships in a
building that was consecrated in 1680.
     The space is shared with people who worship in Ethiopian languages
and the languages of nations in East Africa.  Estonian and Latvian
Lutheran congregations also worship there.
     At the special English service Hanson preached; the Rev. Walter
Jagucki, bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, presided.
Assisting were the Rev. Dale Gingrich, the Rev. Jana Jeruma-Grinberga
and the Rev. Barnabas Daniel.

PRESIDING BISHOP REFLECTS ON TRIP
     The ELCA delegation concluded its visits to European church
leaders March 30 by attending Evensong, a regular worship service here
at Westminister Abbey.	Most members of the delegation returned to the
United States March 31.
     The trip gave Hanson and other ELCA leaders an opportunity to meet
with international church leaders in Geneva, Switzerland, Rome and
London.  At every location the topics included with Iraq war, which
began while the ELCA group was in Switzerland.
     Hanson said he will "never forget" being in Geneva when war with
Iraq began.  "We gathered for worship and prayer with representatives in
the United Nations and our ecumenical partners, to again pray for the
peace of the whole world and the unity of all," he said.
  The 17-day journey gave Hanson a chance to experience "in the
totality of my being" what he had read or heard about, Hanson said.
  "I have experienced in much deeper and richer ways the unity that
we have as the body of Christ, " he said.
  "In many respects I have been changed because that for which I
pray, the peace of the world and the unity of all, has literally been a
gift that I have received by virtue of this trip," he added.
  Accompanying Hanson and his wife, Ione, on the trip were: Linda J.
Brown, ELCA Church Council member, Fargo, N.D.; the Rev. Joseph G.
Crippen, ELCA Church Council member, Northfield, Minn.; the Rev. Jon S.
Enslin, interim associate director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical
Affairs, Chicago; Eileen Heffner, assistant to the director, ELCA
Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; the Rev. David E. Jensen,
Ascension Lutheran Church, Minocqua, Wis.; the Rev. Randall R. Lee,
director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; Kathy J.
Magnus, regional officer for North America, Lutheran World Federation,
Chicago; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop, ELCA Southwestern
Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, and chair, ELCA Conference of Bishops;
the Rev. Marcus J. Miller, bishop, ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod,
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Arthur Norman, Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Houston; the Rev. Fred S. Opalinski, Church Council member, Latrobe,
Pa.; the Rev. Karen S. Parker, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Pacifica
Synod, Yorba Linda, Calif.; Earlene Reeder, assistant to the bishop,
ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod, Detroit; the Rev. Paul A. Schreck,
executive assistant, ELCA Office of the Secretary and associate for
bilateral dialogues, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago.
  The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, joined the group for
meetings in Rome and London. The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, president,
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and his wife,
Mary Carlton-Lull,  joined the delegation for meetings in Rome.
  Reporting on the trip were John R. Brooks, director for news and
media production, ELCA Department for Communication, and the Rev. David
L. Miller, editor of The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA.
-- -- --
The Department for Ecumenical Affairs has its home page at
http://www.elca.org/ea on the ELCA Web site.

The text of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and
related resources are available at
http://www.elca.org/ea/ecumenical/romancatholic/jddj/jddj.html
on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html