wfn.org | LWF Council Appoints Task Force to Guide Discussion on Family, Marriage and Sexuality

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

LWF Council Appoints Task Force to Guide Discussion on Family, Marriage and Sexuality
LWF President Hanson Affirms It Is Not a Decision-making Body 

LWF Council Meeting, Geneva, 1 * 7 September 2004

PRESS RELEASE NO. 15-2004

GENEVA, 7 September 2004 (LWI) * The Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has appointed an eight-person task force to provide the communion with helpful background and assistance for discussion within and among member churches on family, marriage and sexuality.

Members of the Task Force on Family, Marriage and Sexuality are drawn from the seven LWF regions * Africa, Asia, Central Eastern Europe, Central Western Europe, Nordic Countries, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America. LWF Executive Committee member Rev Kristin T. Tomasdottir, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland is the group's chairperson. 

The terms of reference state the task force will assist the LWF Council, to which it reports, by proposing guidelines and processes by which "respectful discussion might be pursued among member churches on issues of family, marriage and human sexuality where there are agreements and disagreements." The team would do this by reflecting biblically, theologically, historically and ethically on the practices and attitudes identified. It would also give specific attention to whether, and how, different hermeneutical approaches to Scripture, and different ethical attitudes, practices and policies, which affect the unity of the Church, could be dealt with.

Responding to questions today at the closing press conference of the September 1-7 Council meeting, LWF President, Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson underlined the task force was not a decision-making body. "We are not going to make decisions on behalf of the global communion," he said. 

"The scope of the task force is to help the communion be in conversation, not to force it to make decisions that would be divisive for the life of the communion," said the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The first responsibility of the task force will be to gather what the member churches are already saying on these subjects and gather resources, "so that we might understand each other's contexts, not just our own."

At the press conference, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, affirmed the establishment of the task force would help the communion in its dialogue with other churches, some of whom have moved ahead in terms of their discussions. "This is a very significant process that we have started. It will help Lutheran churches participate in these important issues on the ecumenical stage," Noko said.

The task force is asked to conduct its work with due regard to the discussions on similar issues within the World Council of Churches, especially through the work of Faith and Order. Also it is expected to familiarize itself with existing complementary work taking place within the LWF secretariat and member churches.

The appointment of the task force was in fulfillment of the Tenth Assembly Message calling on the LWF "member churches to encourage and support one another in study and respectful dialogue on issues of marriage, family and human sexuality, in a manner appropriate to the needs of each member church." The churches also committed themselves to help each other in "advocacy for the human rights and the dignity of all persons regardless of gender or sexual orientation."

In the LWF Tenth Assembly Message, member churches "acknowledged the diversity within the communion on matters of human sexuality" and emphasized the need to "enter into dialogue to clarify our understandings and learn from the Scriptures, contemporary knowledge and our different experiences."

In appointing the Task Force on Family, Marriage and Sexuality, due consideration was given to gender balance, as well as fair representation of the youth, lay and ordained persons. Other team members include Prof. Otieno Mallo, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya; Dr Alicia Lee, Taiwan Lutheran Church; Rev. Manuela Tokatli, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria; Bishop Mindaugas Sabutis, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania; Prof. Jan Olav Henriksen, Church of Norway; and Ms Kristin Anderson-Ostram, ELCA. The Latin American and Caribbean region is expected to nominate its representative. The LWF general secretary will assign a staff person to assist the group. The task force shall meet in 2005 and 2006, and report on the process. 
(690 words)

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Around 100 church representatives including the 49-member Council attended this year's meeting at Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva. In addition there were 70 participants consisting of invited guests, LWF staff persons, interpreters, stewards and journalists. The Council is the LWF's governing body between Assemblies, normally held every six years. The current Council was elected at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, where it held its first meeting. The Council comprises the President, the Treasurer and ordained as well as lay persons drawn from the LWF member churches. The LWF currently has 138 member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with  nearly 65 million members.

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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. It was founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden. 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 the 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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