wfn.org | LWI News in Brief No.03 &04/2004

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

LWI News in Brief No.03 & 04/2004

+ New Title "Zephania Kameeta - Im Wind der Befreiung"
+ ELCA Governing Body Urges US President Bush to Reconsider Support for
Israel's Actions
+ Danish Church Delegation Warns of Threatening Humanitarian Disaster
in Israel-Palestine
+ LWF Executive Committee Member Barnett Calls for Solidarity at UN
Women's Meeting
+ Mark Brown New LWF Representative in Jerusalem

New Title "Zephania Kameeta - Im Wind der Befreiung"

"Zephania Kameeta - Im Wind der Befreiung" is the title of a book
released by the Wuppertal-based United Evangelical Mission (UEM) and
publishers Peter Hammer.

The 260-page German language publication is a collection of the most
important theological discourses and political speeches of Namibian
theologian and vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF),
Bishop Dr Zephania Kameeta. It also contains interviews, letters,
meditations, prayers, sermons and worship resources. The texts covering
the period 1975 to 2003, focus on the years of struggle against
apartheid; the difficult period in the run up to Namibia's independence
in 1990; the 10 years during which Kameeta was Deputy Speaker of
Namibia's Parliament; and his return to active ministry as a parish
pastor. The book also focuses on his current position as bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, as UEM moderator
and one of the LWF vice-presidents. Most of the material is being
published for the first time.

The book launched March 4 in Wuppertal, Germany, is edited by Dr Joerg
Baumgarten, UEM coordinator for the German region. It appears in the
Peter Hammer Verlag 100 years after the beginning of the struggle
against German colonial power in Namibia, and 10 years since the end of
the apartheid system in South Africa. (217 words)

*    *	   *

ELCA Governing Body Urges US President Bush to Reconsider Support for
Israel's Actions

The Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
expressed "grave concern regarding recent unilateral initiatives" being
considered by the State of Israel, and called on United States'
President George W. Bush to reconsider his recent support of Israel's
planned actions.

At its April 17-18 meeting, the council "strongly affirmed" the
principle of a negotiated Middle East peace settlement "within the
context of international support" as outlined in the Road Map for Peace,
developed in 2003 by the United Nations, United States, European Union
and Russia.

In a separate but related action, the council affirmed a statement of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Executive Committee titled "Break
Down the Walls," which called for an end to both the construction of the
West Bank wall and to the creation and support of settlements in the
Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. The February statement
criticized the wall as an obstacle to Middle East peace.

On April 14, President Bush announced changes in US policy on the
Middle East. While the president said he supported Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, he also
said he supported Israel's desire to keep some Israeli settlements in
the West Bank, and implied support for Israel's construction of a
security or separation wall in the West Bank.

The Church Council is the ELCA's board of directors and serves as the
legislative authority of the church between churchwide assemblies, held
every two years. The ELCA has around 5 million members, and joined the
LWF in 1988. Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson is LWF president. (278
words)

(ELCA News Service)

*    *	   *

Danish Church Delegation Warns of Threatening Humanitarian Disaster in
Israel-Palestine 

Members of a Danish church delegation that visited Israel-Palestine
have warned of a threatening humanitarian disaster in the region. They
called on both parties and the international community to urgently seek
a new formula and develop instruments that could guarantee Israelis and
Palestinians equal right to sovereignty and safety. 

In a statement issued after their visit to Jerusalem, Gaza and the West
Bank, the 12-person delegation cautioned that the result of draconian
measures of collective punishment and breaches of international
humanitarian law is increasing frustration and hatred. "Still, there is
also a deep and widespread wish for peace and reconciliation," they
said. 

The representatives from the Council on International Relations of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Ecumenical Council of Denmark
and DanChurchAid, pointed out that Christian presence, estimated at less
than 2 percent of the Holy Land's population, was threatened by the
current socio-economic and political developments. "Many Christians in
Jerusalem and the surrounding areas simply do not see a way of surviving
economically: unemployment is rampant and for young people, a future in
the country looks hopeless," they stated. 

During the March 13-20 visit, the delegation met with representatives
of churches, their related organizations and local authorities. The
purpose was to obtain knowledge about the present situation, and support
the local churches and Christians in the region.

According to the statement, "the delegation saw on the ground how
Israel's 'matrix-control' including continued growth of settlements and
the infrastructure linked to this, the building of the security barrier
in places far into Palestinian territory-is thwarting the likelihood of
the development of a viable Palestinian community and making the
prospect of creating a viable Palestinian state along the State of
Israel more and more improbable." 

In the West Bank and Gaza, for example Hebron, and along the security
barrier, "it is difficult to see developments as other than creating
segregation and forcing the Palestinian population to choose between two
impossible alternatives: either they can live unseen and unnoticed
behind the barrier or they can leave the country," the Danish church
representatives said. 

The Danish delegation urged Christians and churches worldwide to find
ways of supporting the Christians in Israel-Palestine so that the
"living stones" of the Christian presence may continue to exist in the
Holy Land. (387 words)

*    *	   *

LWF Executive Committee Member Barnett Calls for Solidarity at UN
Women's Meeting

On the occasion of this year's session of the United Nations Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW), Sierra Leonean pastor Rev. Marie Barnett
urged women worldwide to support each other in times of crisis.

Barnett, a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council and
Executive Committee was in an LWF delegation attending the 48th session
of the commission at the UN headquarters in New York, USA. At a meeting
organized by the National Council of Churches USA, Barnett spoke of the
struggles facing her country, recovering from years of a brutal civil
war, and called for prayers "for one another." The LWF's participation
was coordinated by the New York-based Lutheran Office for World
Community. 

"When 9/11 [11 September 2001 terrorist attacks against the United
States] happened some church women from Sierra Leone went to Texas and
prayed with them. We expect the same. We pray for women in America who
are suffering from terrorism. Let us pray for one another, let us
intertwine our prayers." Barnett is chairperson of the LWF Program
Committee for World Service. 

During the March 1-12 CSW, the Lutheran Office for World Community
organized an informal panel discussion on the role of young men and boys
in using gender equality to fight HIV/AIDS. One of the panel's goals was
to explore and draw attention to the reasons why young women-comprising
62 percent of the HIV infected youth in Sub-Saharan Africa and South
Asia-are more vulnerable than the men. 

The Commission passed resolutions on many crucial issues, among them,
increasing women's participation in peace negotiations and post-conflict
elections. The resolutions recognized the disproportionate impact that
HIV and AIDS have on women, and the future program of the UN work on the
advancement of women. (300 words)

(Edited from a report by Emily Freeburg, Lutheran Office for World
Community.)

*    *	   *

Mark Brown New LWF Representative in Jerusalem

Effective mid-April, Rev. Mark B. Brown, is the new regional
representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for
World Service (DWS) program in Jerusalem, on the West Bank and
surrounding region. Brown, 49, an ordained pastor of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America(ELCA) succeeds Mr Craig Kippels, who moved to
the LWF/DWS Uganda program in February this year.

Prior to joining the LWF, Brown worked since 1991 with the ELCA
Division for Church in Society as Assistant Director for International
Affairs and Human Rights of the Washington DC-based Lutheran Office for
Governmental Affairs (LOGA). His tasks included among others, analyzing
issues related to the Middle East, Africa and arms control, and
providing leadership for Lutheran and ecumenical delegations to the
Middle East. He served as president and chairperson of a variety of
advocacy organizations including the US Campaign to Ban Landmines,
Churches for Middle East Peace and the Washington Office on Africa. 

Brown earned his Bachelor of Arts from St Olaf College in Northfield,
Minnesota, USA (1974-1978), and a Master of Divinity from Luther
Theological Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota (1978-1982). He studied Islam,
Eastern Christianity, and modern Middle Eastern history in the United
Kingdom and USA. 

Ordained in 1982, Brown worked in the Middle East as a pastor, teacher,
communicator and human rights advocate from 1984 to 1990. Brown and his
wife Susanne have three children. (234 words)

*    *	   *

(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 62.3 million of the almost 66
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
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 LWF's information service.
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.]

*    *	   *

LWI online at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30 
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org