wfn.org | Communio in Europe - the ethnic element is still predominant

[FRANK.IMHOFF@ecunet.org]

LUND, Sweden/GENEVA, 17 July 2000 (LWI) - The last regional meeting
of the Lutheran World Federation "Communion, Community, Society"
program took place in Lund, Sweden in late May, marking the end of a
two-year consultation process

The program of the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS)
involved five regional meetings between an international eight-member
project working group with representatives of LWF member churches to
work on how to translate the church's understanding of communio in
society.

Over the past two years, the working group confronted LWF member
churches with the following questions: How does the church understand
itself in its social context? How does it react to central conflicts
and challenges? What is its social competence? The project aims at
finding global and intercultural answers to these questions.

The Rev. Dr. Wolfgang Greive, the DTS Study Secretary for Theology
and the Church, emphasized that for the regional consultations, it
was important to not make the results of the earlier consultations
available to the participants from the member churches in order to
ensure that the project's results were not distorted.

The Lund consultation brought together Lutheran theologians and lay
people from Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy Norway,
Russia, Sweden, and the Slovak Republic. Earlier regional
consultations were held in India (Asian and Pacific region), Tanzania
(African region), Brazil (Latin American and Caribbean region), and
the United States (North American region).

Greive described the Lund consultation as having been very
instructive, with "lively, understanding and critical" questions
being asked. In the meeting, participants discussed, for example, the
significance of the fact that a majority of Lutheran churches in
Europe view their role in the limited context of their nation and
their own people. In this context the consultation came, according to
Greive, to the conclusion that the ethnic element was still
predominant, and the ecumenical dimension seemed not to be of lasting
relevance. Frequently, analyses of the crisis affecting the church
did not lead to visions of possible action for the church.

The discussion in Lund has shown that at the moment in Europe the
question of where the church wants to go and what its guiding vision
is, is not being asked very much, Greive said. The fundamental change
of Europe's political and social landscape seems to have put the
churches under pressure in terms of time and the need to act, which
has led to the focus being put on one's own situation. "Looking at it
in detail, we found major differences in the understanding of church
in society, and it was interesting to see these differences against
the backdrop of the global Lutheran communion," Greive underscored
after the regional consultation.

At the meeting, the dialogue on communio as a challenge for European
Lutheranism, according to Greive, implied the following questions:
"What is signified by, for example, the concept of an open "Folk
church" or a missionary church? What consequences arise from the
understanding of communio? Does it lead away from a European thinking
in categories of the people and the middle class? Is globalization
only taken seriously as an intra-European issue? Is the
eschatological and pneumatological dimension being rediscovered?"

Greive emphasized, that the issue of communio is very complex, which,
as he pointed out, became especially clear when ecclesiological,
ethical and political questions clashed. Some participants called
particularly for a tangible theological understanding of church being
defined and clarified, which does not simply mirror social problems.

The eight-member project core group and the DTS study desk, "Theology
and the Church" will meet towards the end of December 2000 in Geneva
to interpret the five regional consultations that were organized in
connection with the global project "Communion, Community, Society". A
publication planned from this interpretation will be sent to the
member churches next year. In addition to documentation on the whole
project that is available in Geneva, there will be emphasis on a
plural, intercultural interpretation on issues related to the
project.

The theologians responsible for the interpretation of the DTS project
results include Professors Guillermo Hansen, United Evangelical
Lutheran Church, Argentina; Dietz Lange, Evangelical Lutheran Church
of Hanover, Germany; Monica Jyotsna Melanchthon, United Evangelical
Lutheran Church in India; Israel Peter Mwakyolile, Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Tanzania; Joachim Track, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Bavaria, Germany; Vitor Westhelle, Evangelical Church of
the Lutheran Confession in Brazil and Else Marie Wiberg Pedersen,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. The DTS director and the
department's Study Secretary for Theology and Church are also on this
team.

(The LWF is a global communion of 131 member churches in 70 countries
representing 59 million of the world's 61 million Lutherans. Its
highest decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven
years. Between Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council
which meets annually, and its Executive Committee. The LWF
secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material
presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of
its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the
notation (lwi), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.]

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