wfn.org | LWI News in Brief - March 2002

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

Canada: Anglican-Lutheran Logo Contest Announced

A joint commission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
(ELCIC) and Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) has called for
submissions for a logo to be used when the two churches
participate in "full communion" and for the commission's
communication work. Following its February 15-17 meeting in
Winnipeg, the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission (JALC) announced
that the new logo should communicate "Canadian Anglicans and
Lutherans in Full Communion" and may be a blend of the logos of
each church, or something entirely new. The commission was set up
by the ELCIC and ACC councils to implement and monitor the
commitments of the "Waterloo Declaration"-the full communion
agreement solemnized last July by both churches, facilitate the
churches' joint meetings, and seeks to develop common expressions
of church life. It is co-chaired by Bishop Fred Hiltz, ACC's Nova
Scotia Diocese, and Rev. Michael Pryse, bishop of ELCIC's Eastern
Synod. Submissions for the logo are required by June 30, and the
final selection will be made by the JALC at its fall 2002 meeting.
With 189,000 baptized members represented in five synods,
the ELCIC is Canada's largest Lutheran church. The ACC has over
800,000 members in 30 dioceses. The ELCIC will host the Lutheran
World Federation Tenth Assembly 21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg,
Canada. (ELCIC News)

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Lutheran Heads Australian Church Body

Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) pastor, John Henderson is the
new General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in
Australia (NCCA). A special service to bless and welcome Henderson
into his new position was held March 3 in St. James Anglican
Church, Sydney. He succeeds Rev. David Gill, Uniting Church in
Australia. Appointed by the NCCA National Forum last July,
Henderson was commissioned by the LCA at a special worship service
last December, and began his work as general secretary of the
15-member NCCA in January. This is the first time that an LCA
pastor has led the national body of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox
and Roman Catholic churches. Commissioning Henderson for his new
post, former LCA President and current NCCA President, Dr. Lance
Steicke, said this marked new ground for both the church and
pastor, and widens the sphere in which LCA pastors "can serve and
offer their special theology and expertise to the wider church
community." The 94,000-member LCA has been an associate LWF member
church since 1994. Rev. Michael P. Semmler serves as its
president.

('The Lutheran', LCA's magazine)

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US Lutheran-United Methodist Dialogue Discusses Sacraments

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and United
Methodist Church (UMC) both accept two sacraments-Baptism and the
Lord's Supper. A communique following a February 14-17 meeting of
the Lutheran-United Methodist dialogue in Orlando, Florida, stated
that participants "found significant agreement among the churches'
histories and doctrinal teachings" on the sacraments. Dialogue
co-chairperson, Rev. Allan C. Bjornberg, bishop of the ELCA's
Rocky Mountain Synod, Denver, said they had identified some areas
of "wonderful convergence," but admitted that there was "some work
to do" including "lots of questions yet to be answered." Speaking
to United Methodist News Service, co-chairperson Bishop Melvin G.
Talbert, Nashville, Tennessee, said the UMC and ELCA may have
different understandings of the sacraments, but "we quickly came
to realize these differences are basically in terms of nuance."
Talks between Lutherans and United Methodists in other parts of
the world have set the stage for the U. S. dialogue, said
Bjornberg. He cited an agreement between United Methodists in
Norway and the Church of Norway, which like the ELCA is a member
of the Lutheran World Federation. The two churches or their
predecessor church bodies conducted official dialogues from 1977
to 1979 and from 1985 to 1987. This was the second meeting of the
third round, which began in September 2001. The next meeting of
the dialogue will be in September 2002 in Chicago. With 8.5
million members, the UMC is the second-largest Protestant
denomination in the United States. It is represented in 36,361
congregations in 50 episcopal areas including in Puerto Rico.
There are another 1.4 million Methodists in about 5,150
congregations in Africa, Asia and Europe. The 5.13-million member
ELCA is the fourth largest Protestant US denomination. (ELCANEWS)

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Publication: LWF Study on 'Communion, Community, Society' 

In June 2001, the Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
voted "to encourage the LWF Secretariat, member churches, and
theological institutions to give attention to the findings of the
study "Communion, Community, Society" as published in the book,
Between Vision and Reality: Lutheran Churches in Transition, and
consider how best to pursue the impact and implications in their
respective settings and for the communion as a whole."

Between Vision and Reality: Lutheran Churches in Transition, LWF
Documentation No. 47 presents the results of a three-year global
study program on Lutheran ecclesiology in different contexts. It
includes expressions from churches in Asia, Africa, Latin America,
North America and Europe, as well as interpretations by a team of
theologians from the different regions. The book is especially
addressed to church leaders, theologians, teachers and lay people
involved in shaping the church's future. It presents significant
texts of the churches, analyses and multifaceted interpretations
of a wide range of Lutheran churches in transition. Among the
findings presented are, the realization that Lutheran churches
need to actively participate in seeking a more just society. But
there is generally no differentiated appreciation of the key role
that theological understandings such as communio could play in
this pursuit. The vision of communio is still weak and sometimes
misunderstood, and the lack of eschatological awareness is
significant. But people have a strong sense of being and
increasing awareness of the need for restructuring. The 498-page
study book is produced by the desk for Theology and the Church,
LWF Department for Theology and Studies. It is published by LWF
Publications, Office for Communications Services, P. O. Box 1200,
Geneva 2, Switzerland.

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ELCA Board Names Task Force on Evangelism 

The board of the Division for Congregational Ministries (DCM) of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has named a task
force to develop a comprehensive strategy on evangelism and
approved a document on a plan to develop worship resources for the
ELCA. Rev. Gary M. Wollersheim, bishop of the ELCA Northern
Illinois Synod, Rockford, chairs the 32-member task force, which
includes 13 active parish pastors and 11 lay leaders in "growing
congregations" that engage in a variety of worship styles, range
in membership size and represent ethnic diversity and urban,
suburban and rural settings. The names of task force members were
announced at a DCM February 15-17 meeting in Chicago. The work of
the task force will involve facilitating a "renewed focus" on
prayer for the witness and evangelism ministries of the
5.1-million member ELCA. The 2001 ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted
"Toward a Vision for Evangelism: Sharing Faith in a New Century,"
a plan designed to encourage the 10,816 ELCA congregations to
examine their own ministry of hospitality, review the
opportunities for sharing "God's Good News" with people in their
unique setting, and develop ways to meet, engage, witness to and
invite people to faith in Jesus Christ. The assembly instructed
DCM, the church's Conference of Bishops and other ELCA churchwide
offices to establish a task force that would develop a strategy
for presentation and "possible action" at the 2003 Assembly in
Milwaukee. At its meeting the DCM board authorized distribution of
"Principles for Worship," a document that features the outcome of
a series of consultations on four topics: music, preaching,
language and worship space. The document will be sent to ELCA
congregations for study in June. It is available at
http://www.renewingworship.org on the Internet and through
Augsburg Fortress Publishers, ELCA's publishing house. (ELCANEWS)

*       *       *

German Protestants, Catholics Criticize Parliament's Vote on Stem
Cell Import

The two mainline church bodies in Germany strongly criticized a
decision by the German parliament to allow the restricted import
of embryonic stem cells into the country. It means that the "right
to life and unlimited protection of human life from the point of
fertilization is no longer guaranteed," stated the Protestant
Church in Germany (EKD) and the Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference
in a joint statement after the bill was passed January 30.
Researchers welcomed the decision, however, hoping it would
facilitate new findings on possible treatment for serious
diseases. EKD Council chairperson Praeses Manfred Kock, and the
president of the bishops' conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann,
stressed the two church bodies had received the news of the
parliamentary decision "with great disappointment." It allowed  for
"experimenting in Germany with human embryonic stem cells obtained
by killing embryos." Kock and Lehmann called on politicians, in
spite of the parliamentary decision, "to work vigorously for the
protection of human life from the very start, so that this
decision does not open the floodgates." They said the decision
contradicted the spirit of Germany's Embryo Protection Act.

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Joel Dautheville Succeeds Michel Marlier in Montbeliard, France

Rev. Joel Dautheville is the new inspector (inspecteur
ecclesiastique) of the Montbeliard district of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in France - Eglise evangelique lutherienne de
France (EELF). Installed January 27, Dautheville, 50, succeeds
Rev. Michel Marlier who completed two five-year terms. Ordained in
1983, Dautheville started his pastoral ministry in Brazzaville,
Congo, serving later in various congregations in Montbeliard. In a
message delivered during the installation, the General Secretary
of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko
encouraged Dautheville to carry on EELF's witness in the
ecumenical dialogue and in society as one of the representatives
of Protestantism in France. The Montbeliard inspector was
installed by the Paris district counterpart, Rev. Marie-France
Robert. Dautheville is married, and has three children. The 40,000
member EELF comprises the Montbeliard and Paris districts. It
joined the LWF in 1947.

*       *       *

LWF Commends Role of Liberian Church in Peace Process 

As conflict again threatens to overwhelm hopes of sustainable
peace and human development in Liberia, the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko is
encouraging the church there to continue guiding the country's
political and military leaders back to the path of dialogue and
reconciliation. In a March 4 letter to Bishop Sumoward E. Harris
of the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCC), Noko assured the LCC of
the prayers of "this communion of which you are part,* as you bear
this heavy burden." Liberia's religious leaders carry the best and
perhaps only hope of a genuine and sustainable peace, "after so
much violence and so many betrayed hopes," Noko noted. The
71,196-member LCC joined the LWF in 1966. It has played a key-role
on the Interfaith Council of Liberia, a body of religious leaders
facilitating peace efforts during the 1989-96 civil war and in the
wake of renewed violence. Through its Department for World Service
(DWS) Liberia Program, the LWF has been providing shelter and
other means of support to internally displaced persons (IDPs)
after fighting broke out again in February forcing some 45,000
persons to flee their homes. LWF/DWS has taken the lead in
developing a campsite officially set aside by the Liberian
government. In Jar Tondo town, just outside the capital Monrovia,
the location was chosen because of its proximity to the forest,
making wood readily available for shelter rafters. The camp
accommodates more than 5,000 IDPs.

(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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