wfn.org | Venezuela: Lutheran Church Leader Appeals for Tolerance and

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

Venezuela: Lutheran Church Leader Appeals for Tolerance and Unity
Emigration Leads to Decreased Membership 

CARACAS, Venezuela/GENEVA, 30 August 2004 (LWI) * The president of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela, Rev. Akos Puky, has appealed for
tolerance and unity in the country, saying increasing division among the
population over the past few months was destructive. 

Although Venezuela was endowed with natural resources, it was experiencing
the highest ever poverty levels. The situation had particularly worsened in
the past four years, Puky told Lutheran World Information (LWI) in an
interview.

The economic situation together with the political uncertainty in Venezuela
had led to a major wave of emigration, stressed Puky, who was born in 1936 in
Budapest, Hungary. Young people especially, unable to secure a future for
themselves anymore at home, were leaving the country. The membership of the
Lutheran church had almost halved over the past few years, to 2,233 members
by the end of 2003. In the past year alone, the German-speaking congregation
in Caracas had lost more than 100 families, most of whom had emigrated to
Germany. The Venezuelan church joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1986. 

Puky, who has been president of the Venezuelan church since October 2002,
noted that the church was becoming increasingly open to the local
Spanish-speaking population, which now comprises around 40 percent of the
total membership. Since 1973, services in many congregations are conducted in
Spanish as well, whereas previously they were held mainly in German, Danish,
Latvian, Norwegian, Swedish or Hungarian.

Puky said the churchs activities are mainly focused on service delivery
including social and health centers, ecumenical and mission work among
indigenous population groups. (273 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.]

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