French Lutheran Leader Anticipates Greater Visibility After Regional Union with Reformed Church Union of Protestant Churches in Alsace and Lorraine Inaugurated
STRASBOURG, France/GENEVA, 22 May 2006 (LWI) * The recent merger of the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Alsace and Lorraine, France "will allow a stronger and more solid witness [of the church] in a world where religious identities have a tendency to lose their effectiveness. It will be one voice and one visible presence," said Rev. Dr Jean-François Collange, president of the Church of the Augsburg Confession of Alsace and Lorraine (ECAAL) in France.
The founding of the Union of Protestant Churches in Alsace and Lorraine (UEPAL), resulting from the merger of the ECAAL and the Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine (ERAL), was celebrated in a worship service at the St Thomas Church in Strasbourg, France, on 7 May.
A government decree on 18 April 2006 formally instituted the UEPAL. According to the decree, the Union is "given the responsibility to conduct common action and to strengthen the bonds between the two Protestant churches in Alsace and Lorraine." The churches can decide to delegate some or all of their individual areas of competence to the union.
In an interview appearing in the ECAAL and ERAL biweekly magazine "Le Messager" (No. 19), Collange said that one of the union's advantages is that it allows for the two churches to be seen as a single Protestant church, thus improving its visibility. "The union will also make our services more dynamic," he continued.
In the same interview, the president of ERAL, Rev. Dr Jean-Paul Humbert, added that "from now on, our own identity will reflect the other's as well. We are now Lutheran-Reformed Protestants, which does not exclude varied opinions at the core of this great family." He continued that "within schools, for teachers and school administrators, and in connection with representatives of other religions, it is better to be a single Protestant church."
The ECAAL and ERAL have been cooperating with each other for a number of years with the leadership in both churches working together to coordinate a large portion of their activities since October 1969. Following considerable consultation with the individual parishes, the governing assemblies of the two churches approved the union in November 2004. The new organization provides an official framework for this cooperation, allowing for decisions to be made by a majority of its members, and no longer by a majority within the individual churches, as had been the case in the previous system of cooperation. This signifies considerable progress toward the two churches' vision of an ever more effective witness.
Both churches have a combined membership of some 300,000 people, or around 10 percent of the population, a much higher figure than in the rest of France (less than 2 percent). Four fifths of the total regional membership belong to the ECAAL while roughly one fifth are members of the ERAL. Some 300 pastors are active in both churches combined.
The ECAAL and ERAL will continue to exist within their own structures, and remain members of their respective alliances and federations at the international level.
The first General Assembly of the union is scheduled for 24 June 2006, during which a president will be elected for a three-year term.
The ECAAL has 210,000 members. It joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1947. (556 words)
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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. 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.)
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