wfn.org | Women Leaders Conference Is Significant for Lutheran Communion

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

Women Leaders Conference Is Significant for Lutheran Communion
Lutheran Women Bishops and Presidents Explore Models of Leadership 

GENEVA, 17 June 2005 (LWI) - A conference of women bishops and
presidents from among the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member
churches began here June 16, with an affirmation of the event's
historic significance for the whole Lutheran communion.

"This gathering should not be subjected to mere footnotes of history,"
LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, said in welcoming the
participants to the June 16-19	"Conference of Women Bishops, Presidents
and Leaders with the Ministry of Oversight." It was organized by the
Women in Church and Society (WICAS) desk  of the LWF Department for
Mission and Development (DMD).

Noko noted that three women bishops only had participated in the 1994
LWF Church Leaders' Consultation, also in Geneva, which had included
representatives from all 114 LWF member churches at the time. Realizing
the current conference has been "a monumental task" over several years,
he said.

"Today, it is happening, and it is a privilege that we are here," the
general secretary told the gathering of church leaders from nine
countries. They come from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Netherlands,
South Africa, Sweden, and the United States of America, with one
observer from Poland. They are deliberating on issues of common concern
within the Lutheran constituency, including exploration of relevant
leadership models to address the challenges they face in their contexts
as leaders, and as women.

In his address titled "Value-Based Leadership," DMD Director, Rev. Dr
Kjell Nordstokke facilitated a discussion focusing on leadership as
professional training, and some possible leadership roles including ones
that "inspire and empower." "Women in leadership serve as excellent role
models," he stressed.

In relation to the LWF's ecumenical engagement, representatives of
the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and World Council of
Churches (WCC) were also present. They gave an update on current issues
that the Geneva-based ecumenical organizations are concentrating on, and
how these impact the life of the churches. Rev. Patricia
Sheerattan-Bisnauth from the WARC Department of Partnership of Women and
Men, spoke about the alliance's work on gender justice among the
world's Reformed churches. Doug Chial, coordinator of the WCC 9th
Assembly, outlined plans for the February 2006 WCC Assembly in Porto
Alegre, Brazil, and how women's issues would feature in the Assembly
discussions. 

The women shared experiences of how their churches had influenced their
leadership. Many leaders within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA) emerged from ELCA youth camp programs, according to
Bishop April Ulring Larson of the La Crosse Area Synod; so leadership
was developed at an early age. 

But in Germany, according to Bishop Maria Jepsen of Hamburg, North
Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the age of ordination is somewhat
advanced. Leadership is not learned early on as a precursor to a church
career.

Bishop Christina Odenberg of the Church of Sweden's Lund Diocese,
said she considered  the church to have failed in developing leadership
skills among its youth. 

But in South Africa, according to Moravian Church in South Africa
President, Ms Angelene Swart, the church provides a strong venue for
leadership development.

A recent WICAS analysis shows that 41 out of the 138 LWF member
churches do not as yet ordain women for ministry in the church. Several
reasons are cited, including: theological teachings and biblical
literalism; church structures, policies and strategies; social and
cultural impediments; and, fear of division in the church. 

The conference participants include: Bishops Cynthia Halmarson
(Canada); Maria Jepsen (Germany); Khunansori Basumatary (India);
Caroline Krook and Christina Odenberg, and assistant bishop Christina
Berglund (Sweden); April Ulring Larson, Marie Jerge, Andrea DeGroot
Nesdahl and Wilma Kucharek (USA). Presidents are Rev. Bekure Daba Bultum
(Ethiopia); Rev. Ilona Fritz (Netherlands); and Ms Angelene Swart (South
Africa). Ms Aleksandra Blachut-Kowalczyk from Poland was invited as an
observer from Central Eastern Europe, where there is no woman bishop or
president. (647 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 total
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
dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be
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