wfn.org | Former Estonian Archbishop Urges Open Dialogue among Europe's

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

Former Estonian Archbishop Urges Open Dialogue among Europe's Churches
Regional Consultation Discusses Challenges, Prospects for the Changing
Continent  

REYKHOLT, Iceland/GENEVA, 13 June 2005 (LWI) - A former archbishop of
the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church has called for openness and
mutual willingness to dialogue among European churches in efforts to
deal with dwindling membership and significant changes among Lutheran
churches on that continent.

"What our churches can and should do is to be partners in dialogue,"
retired Archbishop Jaan Kiivit told church representatives attending the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) European Church Leadership Consultation
in Reykholt, Iceland, June 8-13. 

Around 90 church representatives from 23 countries participated in the
meeting, which provided a discussion platform for social and
ecclesiological change in European Lutheran churches. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Iceland hosted the event. 

>From a sociological understanding of religion, the experiences of
churches in eastern Europe were not "fundamentally different" from those
of western Europe, Kiivit explained. But the loss of Christian
traditions and values in Central Eastern Europe, he said, had not been
caused by "progressive and almost imperceptible dismantling," but,
rather, resulted from the violent repression within former communist-led
countries. "The process of globalization shows us how entire systems of
values and social structures are disappearing, and being replaced by
others," he observed.

Europe was strongly characterized by a change in the perception of
piety, Kiivit said. "People are leaving the church not because they no
longer have faith, but because they no longer need the church." He
remarked that although many churches were "now empty," a strong craving
for religiousness could still be felt among the majority of people. 

This changing society, according to Kiivit, should not be viewed as a
threat, but more as the "context in which the church has to proclaim the
gospel and administer the sacraments." It is a situation that could lead
to totally new opportunities. "Linking church with culture such as
music, poetry, and descriptive art," could be one of them. Particularly
important for missionary work, he said, was to be familiar with the
religious origins of culture; the church had always been a vehicle of
culture.

In his address to the consultation, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr
Ishmael Noko, noted there was no healing without recollection and
memory. Every church, he said, had its own history in which it was
embedded. But in view of current challenges, it was necessary to go
beyond such considerations and recall the history shared by the Lutheran
community since its founding at the first LWF Assembly in Lund, Sweden,
in 1947. (424 words)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million. 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
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