wfn.org | LWI News in Brief, December 2003

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

LWI  News in Brief,  December 2003

- "Thinking It Over," an LWF Initiative to Stimulate Churches'
  Theological Reflection on Emergent Issues

- Rev. Thomas Barnett Installed First Bishop of Sierra Leonean
  Church

- Swedish Lutheran Pastor Margarethe Isberg Elected CEC Deputy
  Vice-President

- Pomeranian Bishop Abromeit Is Vice-Chairperson of LWF German
  National Committee

*	*	*

"Thinking It Over " an LWF Initiative to Stimulate Churches'
Theological Reflection on Emergent Issues

How can local faith communities be helped and encouraged to face
and reflect theologically on current issues? This is the
challenge that the Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) in
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) seeks to address through a
recently initiated series, "Thinking It Over" 

"Although DTS continues to publish books related to its various
study programs, we also see the need for briefer, more accessible
ways to stimulate theological reflection and discussion in member
churches," says DTS Director, Rev. Dr Karen Bloomquist. "As
urgent issues and questions arise in the life of churches
worldwide, it is crucial that we reflect on them in light of our
faith, rather than ignore them or react in simplistic ways,"
notes Bloomquist, who is also the department's Study Secretary
for the Church and Social Issues. The new series is mainly
distributed via electronic mail, and is also available in a
four-page pamphlet. In addition, it can be downloaded from the
LWF Web site
http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DTS/DTS-Welcome.html 
using Adobe Acrobat Reader. The first three issues have focused
on "Power Politics in Light of the Human Condition," "The Bible -
Word of God?" and "Inter-faith Dialogue or Mission?" The brief
presentations are intended to introduce and provoke discussion in
local settings. DTS hopes to receive responses to these issues
that will continue and broaden the discussion, for the sake of "a
more communicative communion." 

To receive upcoming issues at no cost via e-mail or through
regular mail, please contact: The Lutheran World Federation,
Department for Theology and Studies, 150 route de Ferney, P.O.
BOX 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, Tel. +41 22 791 6111 or
+41 22 791 6162, Fax +41 22 791 6626, E-mail
kbl@lutheranworld.org. (293 words)

*	*	*

Rev. Thomas Barnett Installed First Bishop of Sierra Leonean
Church

Rev. Thomas J. Barnett was installed as the first bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone (ELCSL) on November
30 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Until his election as bishop in
June 2003, Barnett, 55, had served as ELCSL president since the
church's founding in 1988. 

A graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque Iowa,
USA, Barnett was in the first group of seven ELCSL indigenous
pastors ordained in 1996. He is the first vice-president of the
Council of Churches in Sierra Leone and an executive member of
the Inter-Religious Council in Sierra Leone. In addition to the
bishop, the over 2,000-member ELCSL has six other pastors,
including one woman, and 22 evangelists serving its congregations
throughout the country. Rev. Marie J. Barnett, the bishop's
spouse is a member of the Council of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), chairing the Program Committee for World
Service.

The LWF Area Secretary for Africa, Rev. Dr Musa P. Filibus,
Department for Mission and Development, represented the
Federation at the consecration ceremony, held at the King
Memorial United Methodist Church. Bishop Dr Kevin Scott Kanouse,
Northern Texas - Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), an ELCSL companion synod,
preached and presided at the installation. The ELCSL joined the
LWF in 1990. (223 words)
 
*	*	*

Swedish Lutheran Pastor Margarethe Isberg Elected CEC Deputy
Vice-President

Swedish Lutheran pastor Margarethe Isberg is the new deputy
vice-president of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). She
was elected on December 15 by the new CEC Central Committee,
meeting in Geneva, December 13-18. It was the committee's first
working session after the 12th CEC Assembly in Trondheim, Norway,
last June. Addressing journalists following her election, Isberg
underlined the important role CEC can play in the building of a
new Europe, both within the European Union and beyond its
borders. She believes in bridge-building, and will try to
represent the voice of half of the membership of European
churches, namely women.

Born in 1949, Isberg has been dean of Church of Sweden's
Vasteras Diocese since 2000. Ordained in 1976, she was vicar in
the parish of Huddinge, Stockholm from 1988 to 2000. She is
married to Assar Hansson, and they have two children. Founded in
1959, the Geneva-based CEC, is a fellowship of 125 Orthodox,
Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic churches from all over
Europe, and 40 associate organizations. (176 words)

*	*	*

Pomeranian Bishop Abromeit Is Vice-Chairperson of LWF German
National Committee

Bishop Dr Hans-Juergen Abromeit of Greifswald is the new
vice-chairperson of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) German
National Committee (GNC). Abromeit, head of the Evangelical
Church of Pomerania, was elected during the December 4 LWF-GNC
regular meeting moderated by its chairperson Dr Hans Christian
Knuth of Schleswig, Presiding Bishop of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD). The national committee in
Germany reconstitutes after every LWF Assembly. The Tenth
Assembly was held 21-31 July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada.

Other officers elected included Oberkirchenrat Peter Stoll,
Evangelical Church in Wuerttemberg finance officer, as treasurer.
Stoll is also LWF treasurer. Superintendent Dieter Lorenz, Church
of Lippe (Lutheran Section) will head the GNC committee for
Church Co-operation and World Service. Other members of the
executive committee, which is the GNC's governing body between
its semi-annual assemblies, include Kirchenrat Ivo Huber, Munich;
Oberkirchenraetin Marita Krueger Meiningen; Oberlandeskirchenrat
Dr Christoph Muenchow, Dresden; and the president of the VELKD
Lutheran Church Office, Dr Friedrich Hauschildt of Hanover.

Members of the governing board, which assures funding from the
GNC churches to LWF projects include Superintendent Christof
Schorling, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baden; Oberkirchenrat
Heiner Kueenzlen, Stuttgart; Rev. Christa Goebel, Greifswald;
Oberlandeskirchenrat Joerg Homann, Hanover; Kirchenrat
Hans-Wilhelm Kasch, Schwerin; and Oberkirchenrat Dr Claus Meier
from Munich. The board includes the LWF Council members from
Germany: Bishop Maria Jepsen, Hamburg, Program Committee for
Mission and Development; Sister Esther Selle, Dresden, Program
Committee for World Service; and Thomas Jensch, Leipzig, a
student of theology and political science and member of the
Program Committee for International Affairs and Human Rights.

Deacon Hilke Junger, Wolfenbuettel, was appointed GNC youth
officer, responsible for the Youth Committee together with the
GNC Stuttgart office director, Rev. Rainer Kiefer.nd the
Federation at the consec

Meanwhile the LWF/GNC new Leipzig world service office has a new
coordinator. Ms Elizabeth Hoepner, 30, succeeds Deacon Martin
Herrbruck who retired this year. Hoepner has been working at the
Leipzig office since August 2003.

The LWF/GNC has 13 member churches representing nearly 14
million Lutherans. An LWF National Committee comprises the LWF
member churches in each country. It coordinates the relationships
to the Federation. There are currently 24 such committees in all
the geographical regions. (370 words)

(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 and inter-faith 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' 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.]

*	*	*

LWI online at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30 
Editor's e-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org