wfn.org | ELCA Visitors Greet, Learn from Nordic, German Lutherans

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 23, 2000

ELCA VISITORS GREET, LEARN FROM NORDIC, GERMAN LUTHERANS
00-FE-02-SS*

     The trip was an ecumenical visit.  But it was more than that too.
The hosts taught the visitors about hospitality; theirs was as warm and
inviting as the ever-present candles and flowers at dinners and in
meeting rooms.
     Excited about this historic visit, the hosts created itineraries
designed for mutual learning.  They planned activities, worship
services, resource-sharing meetings and visits to congregations and to
historic and social ministry sites.
     The 15 visitors, sometimes jet-lagged, sometimes exhausted by the
pace, still maintained an enthusiasm that built with each new experience
and conversation.  Such was the nature of the first ecumenical trip from
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to Nordic and German
churches.
     "We tend to see ourselves as a junior partner in relation to the
older state churches of Europe, but this trip taught us that they see us
as an important ally and leader in matters ranging from church life to
the direction of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of
Churches," said ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, Chicago, after
the trip.
     The Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director, ELCA Department for
Ecumenical Affairs, underscored that.  The visit represented two years
of planning by the partner churches and his office, and the delegation
comprised a different group than most ecumenical visits, Martensen said.
     "Never before has a delegation included experts on youth work,
evangelism, global mission, stewardship, church-state relations,
multicultural ministries and communication," he said, adding that the
churches in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany asked for such
representation.
     While state churches face some challenges the ELCA doesn't, many
issues are the same.  In fact, the Church of Norway released a document
on homosexuality during the visit with its representatives and those of
the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church -- a church body born out of
protest against a state church.
     "This issue has tortured and tormented our church for a long
time," said the Rev. Erling J. Pettersen, director general, Church of
Norway's national council.  "Tomorrow we'll see how the church will
react."
     Norwegian law permits gay unions although the Church of Norway
does not.  "This isn't an issue," said the Rev. Odd Bondevik, presiding
bishop and head of the Bishops' Conference.  "This is about people.  We
haven't always been able to have a dialogue.  We need to think about our
way of discussing this."
     Another Church of Norway bishop, the Rev. Sigurd Osberg, added,
"We two bishops disagree but have been working on this.  We disagree on
the use of the Bible texts and their interpretation.  It isn't a
question of who follows the Bible and who doesn't."
     Then there's social ministry.  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Denmark arranged site visits for the ELCA delegation to social
ministries for youth and education, for immigrants and cross-cultural
work, and for addicts, homeless people and prostitutes.
     The Rev. Lise Vognstrup, a Lutheran pastor and social worker in
Copenhagen, told some of the ELCA visitors, "People thought there would
be no work for the church in a society with a good social security net,
but several people fall through the cracks.  Now there's more than we
can do.  But this is evangelization in action.  It's not just preaching
in words."  Vognstrup told of all the volunteers who work in ministries
for prostitutes, addicts and homeless people.
     In Germany Bishop Christian Krause of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Brunswick told the visitors, "We need to have a culture of
mercy.  The church is the only place to remember those who are sick and
weak.  Because of this, it's important to get along with the Roman
Catholic Church, with whom we share about equal numbers."
     Krause sees importance in churches working together in society.
He is president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) -- a global
communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries representing 58 million
of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans.  The ELCA is a member of the LWF.

A PLURALISTIC SUPERMARKET
     Archbishop Jukka Paarma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Finland underscored societal changes mentioned in all the host churches.
"We're facing a multicultural, pluralistic society.  Some of our members
wander through the different faiths like they would in a supermarket,
picking up things from the shelves that suit their own life.
     "Our church is one among many different values.  We are in an
increasingly competitive situation.  This gives the church a big
challenge to grow spiritually stronger."
     In the Church of Sweden, communication staff reported on
strategies to help congregations reach out to "seekers" and make people
who aren't from the Lutheran tradition feel welcome in the church.
     In Norway, Pettersen said, "It's more than lutefisk and lefse
here.  We have worship traditions that incorporate charismatic, Anglican
and other influences."
     For the Nordic churches, which enjoy high membership figures
because of their historical state church status, worship attendance is a
challenge.  While 85 percent of Danes are members of the Lutheran
church, the delegation learned that about 3 to 4 percent of Denmark's
Lutherans attend worship.  The numbers are similar in Finland, Sweden
and Norway.
     Margrethe Vestager, Denmark's minister of ecclesiastical affairs,
said, "Figures don't tell the whole story.  Members come to church
meetings, they're baptized, confirmed, married and buried from the
church.  And some of the values of the church are internalized within
the Danish people.  However, Danes are basically shy about talking of
their faith.  It would be easier to speak of their sex life."
     Cooperation among denominations and various ecumenical agreements
were also part of the discussion mix.  In Finland the ELCA delegation
visited the town of Porvoo.  There the group met with diocesan leaders,
who said Finnish Lutherans are holding regular theological conferences
with Anglicans as they live out the Porvoo Declaration issued in 1993.
That document brought together Nordic and Baltic Lutherans with British
and Irish Anglicans.
     In Helsinki Lutherans and Anglicans spoke of raising the questions
that arise from Porvoo: What does it mean to be together as Anglicans
and Lutherans? They spoke of "drawing on the richness of both traditions
to build a common identity while still keeping their own."
     Everywhere the ELCA group went, questions arose about Called to
Common Mission, the ELCA's full communion proposal with The Episcopal
Church, and other ecumenical agreements.  It became clear, as Martensen
said, that our sister churches are "following with great interest the
recent and current decisions being made on the establishment of full
communion with a wide range of ecumenical partners."
     The ELCA is in relationships of full communion with the Moravian
Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in
America and United Church of Christ.

ATTRACTING YOUTH
     Krause asked a question all Lutheran churches ask, "How can we
bring youth back to the church?"
     A parish institute in Celle, Germany, which sees itself as a
"service station for congregational renewal," offers courses on how
parents and children can live their faith at home.  Youth work at St.
Peter's Church in Dohren, Germany, includes learning how to talk about
their faith.
     The Finnish church provides church camps where youth go as part of
their confirmation instruction.  In Norway youth choirs draw many youth
back to the church.
     Changes in church and society bring new challenges for the Nordic
and German churches.  The fall of the wall in Germany in 1989 created
new possibilities, said the Rev. Antje Heider-Rottwilm, a pastor who
works with the Evangelical Church in Germany.
     "We're involved in a process of European integration too -- a new
identity of nations, of people, of regions.  People now speak of
contributing to a soul for Europe.  And we have to think of how the
church can be a part of that.  What can we say about justice, peace, the
integrity of creation and other issues?"  She added that only recently
are the churches working on issues of violence against women and
trafficking of women.
     In Sweden, where the church-state relationship was severed Jan. 1,
Archbishop K.G. Hamar said, "The change will give us a more courageous
stand in society.  It's a matter of adjusting to the changing times."
     The changing times -- whether that means a multicultural church; a
new approach to global missions; special outreach to youth, differently
abled people or indigenous populations; or working with new full
communion partners -- became the common thread as hosts and visitors
shared stories and resources.
     Old ties were strengthened.  New ties were formed.  And now the
ELCA and the Lutheran churches in Nordic countries and Germany can help
one another with solutions to the new millennium's challenges.

The hosts:
o Church of Norway
o Evangelical Lutheran Free Church of Norway
o Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark
o Church of Sweden
o Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland
o Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
o United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD)
o Several local congregations, church agencies and social ministry sites

The U.S. delegation (from Chicago unless otherwise noted):
+ ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson and Jutta Anderson
+ the Rev. Kelly Chatman, director for Youth Ministries/Lutheran Youth
Organization, Division for Congregational Ministries
+ Eileen Heffner, Department for Ecumenical Affairs
+ Patricia Hoyt, Office of the Bishop
+ Dr. Kristen E. Kvam, Department for Ecumenical Affairs, advisory
committee chair, Kansas City, Mo.
+ the Rev. Randall R. Lee, associate for bilateral relations and
dialogue, Department for Ecumenical Affairs and Office of the Secretary
+ the Rev. Charles H. Maahs, bishop of the ELCA Central States Synod,
Shawnee Mission, Kan.
+ the Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director, Department for Ecumenical
Affairs
+ the Rev. George P. Mocko, bishop of the ELCA Delaware-Maryland Synod,
Baltimore
+ the Rev. Mark R. Moller-Gunderson, executive director, Division for
Congregational Ministries
+ the Rev. Marta L. Poling-Goldenne, director for witness, Division for
Congregational Ministries
+ the Rev. H. Karl Reko, program director for Europe (Western and
Nordic), Division for Global Mission
+ Sonia C. Solomonson, managing editor, The Lutheran, ELCA's magazine
+ the Rev. Paul R. Swanson, bishop of the ELCA Oregon Synod, Portland

** Solomonson is managing editor of The Lutheran, the magazine of the
ELCA.

[Editors: The "ecumenical journey" took place March 11-30, 2000.  This
article appears in the June 2000 issue of The Lutheran and on the World
Wide Web at http://www.thelutheran.org/0006/page48.html  Photos are
available through The Lutheran magazine.]

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