wfn.org | Council Recommends Strategic Communication Planning in the LWF

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

Document on Guiding Principles for Comprehensive Communication to
be Sent to Member Churches

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

Press Release No. 17

WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA, 17 September 2002 (LWI) * Departments
and offices of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have been urged
to engage in a strategic communication planning process that
ensures the integration of communication in the budgetary
component of each activity.

The LWF Council made this recommendation when it received the
report of the Program Committee for Communication Services,
presented September 16 by committee chairperson Bishop Dr. Bela
Harmati. The Council also affirmed that an amount of CHF 100,000
(USD 62,500) designated for communication core activities in 2001
be sustained until 2004.

The recommendations were based on the program committee's
discussion on the report of the General Secretary on the
"Communication in the LWF Structure," compiled by a task force in
May 2002. The Council called for the task force at its June 2001
meeting, in view of the difficult situation for OCS over the
years.

Guiding Principles for Comprehensive Communication in the LWF

The Council also asked the General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael
Noko, to support and implement the concepts of a document "Guiding
Principles for Comprehensive Communication in the LWF," developed
as  follow-up to recommendations by the 1997 Ninth Assembly, that
the LWF develop a comprehensive communication policy. The document
will be sent to member churches for reception, translation and
comment.

Communication committee member Rev. Telmor Sartison, retired
national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
commented on the "Guiding Principles for Comprehensive
Communication in the LWF" prepared May 2002 by a committee that he
chaired. The consultative process included representatives from
LWF member churches, and was led by the Office for Communication
Services (OCS) in cooperation with the desk for Christian
Education and Communication Consultancy in the Department for
Mission and Development.

Sartison emphasized that the guiding principles' document does not
represent a finalized process but opens up discussion on how to
respond to contemporary communication challenges and enhance
communication in the Lutheran communion.

The Council affirmed steps being taken to seek methods of
collaboration between OCS and the Department for World Service for
example in promoting an information network for humanitarian
action, and encouraging international group visits for journalists
to DWS country programs and projects.

Ecumenical News International

The Council also recommended that the LWF tries to maintain its
annual membership fee of CHF 100,000 (USD 62,500) to Ecumenical
News International (ENI), without affecting the OCS budget. In the
discussion on this item, the Council reiterated the LWF's
commitment to ENI but registered concern about the continued level
of support particularly in view of overall decreased income in the
LWF. ENI's four founding members include the World Council of
Churches, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Conference of
European Churches and LWF.

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
Luthran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 75 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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