wfn.org | Lutheran council reelects Huberto Kirchheim as president

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Continue a pastoral attitude and a will for dialogue

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil/GENEVA, 2 November 1998 (alc/lwi) - The general
council of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil
(IECLB) has reelected Pastor Huberto Kirchheim as president for a four-year
period.

The 59-year-old Kirchheim was the only candidate. Concurrently, Walter
Altmann, 54, president of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI),
was elected first vice president, and Edson Saes Ferreira, 50, a leader
from the Southern Central Synod of Santa Catarina, second vice president.

Kirchheim said his aim is to continue the pastoral attitude and will for
dialogue that has heretofore marked the IECLB presidency. He said that the
church should place special emphasis on the Lutheran confession and the
construction of participatory congregations marked by solidarity.

Altmann told the Evangelical Lutheran Jornal that the "IECLB should respond
to the challenges raised by Brazilian society: the yearning to give life
meaning, the struggle to survive, solidarity with the weakest, the
construction of a just society in which no one is excluded." He added that
mission and training will be priorities.

In a message to IECLB congregations, the general council referred to the
social, economic and political crisis wracking the country and the need to
face the arrival of the new millennium, with all its unknown elements, as a
challenge. It also mentioned religious plurality. "In the religious market
we are living in, the grace of God finds no space," said the message.

The elections occurred at the first meeting of the IECLB general council
held under the new administrative structure that now covers 18 synods
throughout the country. The meeting lasted from October 15 to 18 in the
city of Rodeio 12, in the state of Santa Catarina.

One of the first decisions made by the general council was to initiate an
international campaign against the manufacture and use of antipersonnel
mines. It also approved the IECLB's budget for 1999, which is close to USD
2 million.

The council was opened in the Evangelical Timbo Community, which celebrates
its 100th anniversary this month. The new IECLB leadership body was
installed, made up of 18 people, including six pastors and seven women.
This body leads the church between general council meetings. Each synod has
a representative in the council.

The president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, Carlos
Winterle, also attended the meeting. He emphasized the importance of
dialogue and collaboration between the two churches.

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