wfn.org | New Leadership Style Takes Shape in Dutch Lutheran Church

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

'Spirituality of Joint Church has to Grow'

UTRECHT, The Netherlands/GENEVA, 22 November 2001 (LWI) - A new style
of leadership is underway in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the
Kingdom of the Netherlands (ELK), putting high on the church's agenda
the revitalization of local congregations. According to the church's
leadership, Lutheran involvement in the three-way merger with the
country's two main Reformed churches remains necessary, despite the
recent decision to withdraw from the process by the Lutheran
congregation in the capital Amsterdam.

"The time in which the synod president was involved in everything is
over," editor Jan Vos writes in the current issue of the Lutheran
quarterly ELKkwartaal. Since the synod elections last May, a more
decentralized form of leadership is taking shape, in which the new
president and two vice-presidents each have defined areas of
responsibility. Sytze van Kammen succeeded Kees van der Horst, who
had served as synod president for 10 years.

In a recent interview van Kammen said his predecessor "did a huge
amount of work, but he also said that it was difficult. I would not
be able to manage that amount of work. I have a family and I also
have my congregation." Van Kammen, 37, will spend part of his time as
pastor of the local congregations in Haarlem and Beverwijk, and the
other part on national church work.

As synod president, van Kammen is mainly responsible for the church's
internal affairs. He deals with pastoral activities, visits to
congregations as well as ecumenical contacts. "An important task is
to develop a vision of the future for the Lutheran congregations," he
told the Protestant church monthly kerkinformatie [Church
Information].

Vice-president Ilona Fritz, also a part-time pastor, is responsible
for relations with the two Reformed partners in the "Together on the
Way" (Samen op Weg)-SoW-merger process. She is a member of the joint
governing body and takes turns with her Reformed counterparts in
chairing joint synod meetings. The other vice-president, Wim Littel
is a lay person. His tasks include the preparation of synod meetings,
of which he is chairperson. He also serves on the finance committee
and chairs the synodal commission. 

'Spirituality of Joint Church has to Grow'

The SoW process is vital for the ELK said van Kammen. "Not [for the
Lutheran church] to survive, but in order to do what you have to do
as church. For this we need the facilities that 'Together on the Way'
offers."

The process began in 1969 with the Netherlands Reformed Church (NHK)
and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN). The ELK joined in
1986. Currently, a federation of the two Reformed churches and the
smaller Lutheran church, the Uniting Protestant Churches, (Samen op
Weg-kerken) form the country's largest Protestant body, representing
some 2.7 million Christians.

"The spirituality of the joint church still has to grow. We do happen
to be different," van Kammen said. In contrast to the Reformed
partners, "we Lutherans are not used to deep dogmatic discussions. We
would rather give reconciliation and redemption a place in the
liturgy."

As the merger progressed during the 1990s, the process became
increasingly dogged by internal disagreements. The latest set-back
was a surprise move in September by the Amsterdam Lutheran
congregation, which announced its decision to withdraw from the
city-wide cooperation agreement with its two Reformed partners at
the end of 2001.

The reasons for the decision were "long-standing problems" within the
NHK congregation, the chairperson of the city's Lutheran church
council, Harry Donga, told the Dutch news agency ANP.

In 1997, Amsterdam was the first major city in the Netherlands where
the three merger partners approved a far-reaching cooperation
agreement. The Lutheran congregation there is the largest in the ELK.

Compared with similar agreements elsewhere in the country, the
cooperation process was perceived to have advanced further in
Amsterdam. The chairperson of the city's GKN church council, Jaap
Doolard, expressed concern that the Lutheran congregation's recent
decision to withdraw may be a precursor to the unraveling of the
entire SoW process. "Never before have Lutherans withdrawn from the
process on such a large scale," he noted.

First indications are that the two Reformed partners in the Dutch
capital will continue to work towards a federation at the city-wide
level. What consequences the Lutheran withdrawal will have for
cooperation between the city's three Lutheran preaching-stations and
their Reformed counterparts is unclear.

More recently, Donga spoke on Dutch radio of the "total sanding-up"
of the church merger. On the other hand, there are promising forms of
cooperation and merging of Lutheran and Reformed parishes like the
one in Flevoland near Amsterdam. There the merging of the two
traditions in service and liturgy, pastoral care and financial
support opened the way to the establishment of a flourishing new
community. "Things very much depend on the local history and the
given situation," says Rev. Andreas Wvhle, a long-time local pastor.

The 17,500-member ELK joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1947.

(By LWI Correspondent Andreas Havinga )

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133
member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the
64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its
member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development
work. Its 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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