wfn.org | Discussion on Identity of LWF Communion Prominent at Asian

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Discussion on Identity of LWF Communion Prominent at Asian Regional
Conference
Malaysian Churches Host Assembly Follow-up Conference

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia/GENEVA, 15 June	2004 (LWI) * Representatives of 
Asian Lutheran churches gathered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to follow up on 
decisions of the July 2003 Tenth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation 
(LWF), kept returning to the question: what does it mean for us to be a 
communion of churches?

Bishop Dr Wesley Kigasung, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea, 
in his keynote address to the June 4-7 Asian Church Leadership Conference 
(ACLC), spoke of excitement at the growth of the region's Lutheran churches 
into "a unified body, as we now like to refer to ourselves as a communion 
of churches in Asia."

The 46 LWF member churches in Asia and the Pacific are grouped into three 
sub-regional expressions of communion/North East Asia Lutheran Communion 
(NEALUC), West South Asia Lutheran Communion (WeSALUC) and South East Asia 
Lutheran Communion (SEALUC). In addition, the churches have established the 
Advisory Committee for Coordination of Regional Expression in Asia (ACCREA) 
to support the regional expression of communion. The LWF Department for 
Mission and Development (DMD) organized the ACLC in collaboration with 
ACCREA and the Advisory Committee for Theological Education in Asia.

Rev. Dr P*ri Rasolondraibe, DMD director, prefaced his overview of the 
Tenth Assembly decisions by highlighting a resolution on the organization's 
identity. Under "Expansion of the Name of the LWF," the Assembly last year 
adopted, in line with a September 2002 Council recommendation, an expansion 
of the name of the LWF, so that the full name will be "The Lutheran World 
Federation * A Communion of Churches." The decision was taken with the 
understanding that when, for practical reasons the full name is too long, 
the present name without the addition also remains valid, and the LWF 
remains the normal acronym.

Central to being a communion of churches was being in altar-and-pulpit 
fellowship, Rasolondraibe told the ACLC participants. This allows members 
of different churches to take part in each other's celebrations of the 
Eucharist, and for ordained clergy of different churches to preach in each 
other's churches.

Strengthening Ecumenical Relations

Being in communion is not an obstacle to engaging in ecumenical relations 
with other denominations, Rasolondraibe said. Rather, it is a sure way for 
strengthening such relations. It is a more binding form of association than 
a federation. A federation can be cancelled, whereas one cannot cease being 
in communion, the DMD director observed. He however noted that the LWF 
allows for associate membership, whereby a member church can choose the 
churches with which it wishes to be in pulpit-and-altar fellowship.

Conference participants mentioned a variety of established and new 
communions of churches from which comparisons could be drawn. The Anglican 
Communion was an "equally diverse" body of churches with various forms of 
governance, said Bishop Julius Paul, Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
Malaysia (ELCM).

The Wuppertal, Germany-based United Evangelical Mission (UEM), representing 
a grouping of Protestant churches in Africa, Asia and Germany, has eight 
years of experience as "a communion of churches on three continents," said 
UEM's Peter Demberger.

Bishop Bonar Matondang of the Christian Protestant Angkola Church, western 
Indonesia, told Lutheran World Information (LWI) that the concept of 
communion was helpful in grasping Lutheran identity. But then it became 
confusing when the same term was used to group disparate denominations, 
such as the Communion of Churches in Indonesia.

The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI), which describes 
itself as "a communion of 11 member churches," is in dialogue with the 
recently established Communion of Churches in India (CCI), UELCI 
representatives told LWI. The CCI is the new name of the former Joint 
Council of Churches, which groups the Church of North India, Church of 
South India and Mar Thoma Church.

One of the twice daily devotions held during the ACLC featured a "water 
communion," in which participants went forward to receive a glass of 
drinking water, accompanied by the words "Receive the life-giving gift of 
fresh water." The liturgical act was part of a time of worship organized by 
delegates from India. The theme of the liturgy "Water as Life: Water as 
Right," was borrowed from a recent UELCI consultation in Nagpur in the 
central region, that focused on the growing global water crisis.

A major highlight of the ACLC was an evening program billed as a "Lutheran 
Communion Banquet Dinner," a colorful display of song and dance combined 
with an elaborate Chinese banquet, presented by conference co-hosts ELCM 
and the Lutheran Church in Malaysia and Singapore. Both churches serve 
Lutherans whose respective mother tongues are Chinese and Tamil, a language 
mainly spoken in southeast India.

The over 70 participants in the conference included 46 bishops and church 
presidents, youth and women representatives, members of regional 
committees, LWF Council members from the region, mission partners and LWF 
staff persons. The ACLC and its predecessor, the Asian Church Leaders 
Meeting, date back to the 1970s. It normally convenes every two to three 
years.(828 words)

(By Amsterdam-based correspondent Andreas Havinga, reporting on the ACLC on 
behalf of LWI.)

(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.]

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