wfn.org | LWF: Interregional meeting for Comprehensive Communication

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

Policy
Discussions will focus on key communication concerns for churches

GENEVA, 27 March 1999 (lwi) As mandated by the Council of the
Lutheran World Federation(LWF) in June 1998, the LWF Office for
Communication Services (OCS) jointly with the Department for Mission
and Development (DMD), will hold an interregional consultation here
from 27 to 30 March 1999 to work on the plan for a Comprehensive
Communication Policy (CCP) for the LWF and its member churches.

Meeting under the theme "Comprehensive Communication Policy", the
four-day meeting at the John Knox Reformed Center, brings together 11
communicators from Lutheran churches in Cameroon, Poland, South
Australia, Taiwan, Germany, Tanzania, Finland, Brazil, India, El
Salvador and the United States of America. The  resource persons will
be joined by an in-house team representing the various departments of
the LWF Geneva secretariat.

The LWF Assembly in Hong Kong underlined the Federation's commitment
to communication as integral to the building up of ecclesial
communion and as indispensable to effective witness to the world. And
as an outcome from the discussion on the issue, "Through
Communication: Values,  Power and the Information Society", the
Assembly asked the LWF to develop a "Comprehensive Communication
Policy" for the Lutheran communion, including communication within
"our churches" on the grassroots level and giving due consideration
to the work of ecumenical partners.

Sponsored by the LWF-OCS and DMD, the consultation which will be held
in plenary and group discussions will discuss the formulation of a
CCP under the sub-themes: "Theological and Ethical Aspects of
Communication", "Communication in Communion Case Studies", and
"Towards a CCP".

Key communication concerns that the consultation will deal with
include the gap between the churches in the North and South regarding
the use of modern communication technology, the future of traditional
means of communication vis … vis the increasing use of the Internet,
and the LWF/DMD projects to empower member churches mainly in the
South with regard to their communication needs.

It is expected that the interregional meeting will prepare a draft
document on a CCP in the LWF and the member churches, to be submitted
to the LWF Council next June.

*       *       *
Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/