wfn.org | Asian Lutheran Churches Challenged to Seize Mission of Healing the

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

World
You "Must Never be Discouraged and Become Weak," Urges Papua New
Guinea Bishop Kigasung

MEDAN, Indonesia/GENEVA, 4 March 2003 (LWI) * Delegates from the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Asia, were
reminded that the church is blessed with the "incredible greatness
of God's power" to embark on the huge and challenging mission to
heal the world.

Delivering the sermon during the opening worship service of the
Asia Pre-Assembly Consultation and Asia Church Leadership
Conference, Bishop Dr. Wesley Kigasung, Evangelical Lutheran
Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG), challenged the churches on
their calling to be the full expression of Christ as the ultimate
healer of the world.

"In our attempt to bring healing to others we must be encouraged
by our own experience of being saved, redeemed, forgiven and given
new life through God's amazing grace," Kigasung told
representatives of LWF member churches in the region, during the
worship at the Protestant Christian Batak Church (HKBP) cathedral
in Medan. His reflections, based on Ephesians 1: 3-23, focused on
how the Asian churches understand the task of healing in their own
context, as expressed in the LWF Tenth Assembly theme, "For the
Healing of the World." The Assembly, the LWF's highest
decision-making body will take place in Winnipeg, Canada next
July.

Kigasung noted that the Assembly theme certainly brings to mind
many frightening and sickening images of the pain and suffering
caused by HV/AIDS, terrorism, all forms of violence, environmental
degradation, war, corruption among a host of other problems in the
world. But, he stressed, the churches "must never be discouraged
and become weak," for God has empowered them to embark on the
mission of healing.

The ELC-PNG head noted that often when reflecting on the Assembly
theme, he asked himself whether it was really the world or the
people in it that needed healing. He pointed out that human beings
have become too wise, knowledgeable, powerful and proud that "so
often we tend to forget about God and to take God's place." The
evil, pain and suffering inflicted upon the world "is our own
making," according to Kigasung. When human beings attempt to
recreate the world with their knowledge and wisdom "we only cause
destruction to God's original creation and the world groans in
pain." The church, he told Lutheran church representatives from
Asia, must be filled with the spiritual wisdom and understanding
for the healing of the world.

The LWF-Asia region is divided into three sub-regions - North East
Asian Lutheran Communion - NEALUC, South East Asian Lutheran
Communion - SEALUC and West South Asian Lutheran Communion -
WeSALUC - with 46 LWF member churches, two of which are associate
members . It has a combined membership of 7 million people.

Greeting the congregation, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael
Noko stressed the importance of "bearing one another's burden" as
members of one communion. Basing his reflections on Galatians 6:
2, he said carrying each other's burdens calls for trust and
openness to each other. He noted that the Asia pre-Assembly was
taking place during a very difficult global context in which
openness and trust become very vital.

The head of the 3 million-member HKPB, Bishop Dr Jubil R. Hutauruk
also greeted the congregation and welcomed the regional
pre-Assembly participants to Indonesia.

Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan,
gave the benediction in Arabic.

The Asia pre-Assembly s the third such consultation before the
July 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly that will take place in Winnipeg,
Canada. A pre-Assembly for North America took place in Denver,
Colorado in the USA, January 23-26 while Europe's was held
February 23-26 in Vienna, Austria. Representatives from the Africa
region will meet March 23-26 in Nairobi, Kenya, while the Latin
America and Caribbean consultation will be held April 7-10 in San
Salvador, El Salvador. An international Women's Pre-Assembly
Gathering took place 14-17 November 2002 in Montreux, Switzerland,
and a global youth conference will be held prior to the Assembly.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 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 LWF's information service.
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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