wfn.org | Mayor Eckhard Naumann Welcomes LWF Council to Wittenberg

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

'The True Heritage of Luther is His Spirit'

LWF Council Meeting, Wittenberg, Germany, 10-17 September 2002

Press Release No. 8

WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA, 11 September 2002 (LWI) - The
municipal government of the Luther city of Wittenberg, Germany,
and the founders of the Lutheran Center Wittenberg hosted a
reception September 10 for participants in the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) Council. The Council is holding its 2002 meeting
10-17 September in the town where Reformer Martin Luther lived,
launched the Protestant Reformation and is buried.

"This is like coming home," said Eckhard Naumann, Lord Mayor of
Lutherstadt Wittenberg, noting that this is the first meeting the
LWF has held in Wittenberg. The LWF was founded in 1947, and
Wittenberg has been in the former East Germany.

Naumann listed many of the historic sites and monuments of
Luther's life that stand in Wittenberg. "Since the [BerlinWall]
came down, these things are accessible again to the world," he
said. Wittenberg has worked hard to maintain the artifacts of
Luther's heritage, he said, "but the true heritage of Luther is
his spirit. You have maintained that," the mayor said.

Prof. Dr. Paul Raabe, chairperson of the board of trustees of the
Francke Foundation and a founding member of the Lutheran Center
Wittenberg, said the unification of German states was "a lucky
break for Lutheran churches as well." Wittenberg was inaccessible
to many Lutherans for almost 50 years, he said, but now the town
cn again be the destination of Lutheran pilgrims from around the
world. "It is time for Lutherans to rediscover Wittenberg," he
said.

Raabe commended the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
for establishing its own center in Wittenberg. He encouraged all
Lutheran churches to see Wittenberg as the "cultural, spiritual
and academic center of world Lutheranism." He urged other
churches, especially fast-growing Lutheran churches of the
Southern Hemisphere, to follow the ELCA's lead and send
representatives to Wittenberg.

Raabe described the work of the Lutheran Center Wittenberg, which
was founded in 1999. Housed in the city's Old Town Hall, the
center is dedicated to assist visitors and scholars in exploring
the Reformation and its effects on today's church and culture. The
president of the center is LWF President, Bishop emeritus Dr.
Christian Krause.

Staff of the LWF Office for Communication Services at the Council
meeting can be contacted at German mobile telephone No., +49-(0)
170-8345 177.

(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 61.7
million of the 65.4 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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