wfn.org | 'Luther Decade' Significant for All Lutherans, Says Lutheran World Leader

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: 'Luther Decade' Significant for All Lutherans, Says Lutheran World Leader
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>September 22, 2008  

'Luther Decade' Significant for All Lutherans, Says Lutheran World Leader
08-161-JB

LUTHERSTADT WITTENBERG, Germany (ELCA) -- The Sept. 20-21
kickoff of the "Luther Decade" here was significant for all
Lutherans because it offered opportunities for evangelism and
"deep theological conversation" among Lutherans and ecumenical
partners, said the Rev. Mark S. Hanson.  Hanson, presiding bishop
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and president of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), made the comments Sept. 21
during a news conference here.

Hanson participated in a series of events marking the
arrival here 500 years ago of Martin Luther, a German monk, whose
writings were instrumental in the Lutheran Reformation.  The
Luther Decade is expected to be a series of events and
observances leading to 2017.  In that year Lutherans will mark
the 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, when
Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg's Castle
Church.

"The Luther Decade is very important for Lutherans
throughout the world because what began in Germany is clearly now
a global movement," said Hanson whose LWF role includes leading
68.3 million Lutherans worldwide.

The rapid increase of the numbers of Lutherans in Africa is
testimony that the Lutheran Church continues to be an evangelical
movement, he said.  "Yet we must confront the challenges that
prosperity gospel preaching are for us who proclaim a radical
cruciform gospel of God's grace in Christ through faith," Hanson
said.

Through the Reformation, Lutherans have contributed many
gifts to the entire Christian church, Hanson said.  He noted that
in an age of religious extremists and the growth of
fundamentalism, descendants of the Lutheran Reformation live with
convictions that may seem to be contradictory to others -- such
as the belief that the creation is both good and at the same time
fallen, that people are saints and sinners, and that the Word of
God is both law and gospel.

"Those are deeply held teachings for us, but they are
difficult to communicate in a world that doesn't seem to want to
live with ambiguity and paradox," Hanson said.

Lutherans offer other gifts to the world, such as ecumenical
cooperation, diaconal ministry in service to others, and work for
justice and peace.

"We also must be attentive in this decade to how we live as
Christians with people of other faiths," Hanson said.  "This is a
time for us to engage in dialogue so that extremists of any
religion don't dominate the world or don't become the only face
of people who are religious to the world."  He said Lutherans are
working in places such as the Middle East to achieve peaceful
resolution of historic conflicts.

Human beings need to be reformed in how they treat creation,
Hanson said, noting that the first of Luther's 95 Theses is about
repentance.

"The Luther Decade offers a chance over 10 years to talk
about theology ... about how we can bring people in contact with
the gospel, discover why we are Lutheran today and what it means
to be Lutheran in the globalized world," said Prelate Stephan
Dorgerloh, director, Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
Wittenberg Center. Dorgerloh will lead EKD involvement in the
decade's activities.

Hanson also preached at a nationally broadcast Castle Church
service here Sept. 21, attended by German government officials
and church leaders.

>---

Information about the Luther Decade is at

http://www.wittenberg.de and http://www.luther2017.de on the Web.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog