wfn.org | Understanding Role of Ordained and Lay People in the Church Crucial

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

Understanding Role of Ordained and Lay People Crucial for the Church 
Lutheran Women Leaders Affirm North-South Mutual Support 

GENEVA, 30 June 2005 (LWI) * The role of lay leaders versus that of
ordained ministers was a key discussion topic in an international
gathering of women bishops from among the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) member churches.

In his presentation titled "The Episcopal Ministry within the
Apostolicity of the Church," Dr Theodor Dieter, director of the
Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, said the
struggle to discern the appropriate extent of lay leadership involvement
was rooted in the struggle to define a pastor's role.
 
"We have lost the understanding of the task of the pastor," he told
the conference participants who comprised ordained and lay church
leaders. This task, according to Dieter, was to preach the gospel. The
question of lay leadership involvement arises when the pastor does not
fulfill this mission. 

"My hope is that we would not discourage the participation of lay
people," he said, "but that we would strengthen the understanding of
the role of the ordained."

The discussion also included the worldwide development of women in lay
and ordained leadership roles. An analysis by the LWF desk for Women in
Church and Society (WICAS) indicates that although some LWF member
churches were still not ordaining women, overall, the number of Lutheran
women pastors had significantly increased. 

In the Netherlands for example, women comprise more than 50 percent of
the Lutheran pastors, according to Rev. Ilona Fritz, [Lutheran] Synod
President, Protestant Church in the Netherlands. 

Ms Angelene Swart, President of the Moravian Church in South Africa,
pointed out that women from the South and those from the North had
mutually helped each other in developing leadership roles. This cycle of
aid, as she described it, began when Northern women encouraged Southern
women to seek leadership positions.

"Women in our place looked at women from the North and admired
them," Swart went on. By expressing this admiration, Southern women
empowered Northern women, thus helping them develop their leadership
roles, she explained.

"We in the South helped you to get where you are, perhaps not
consciously," she said. "You have also learned. You have also grown.
You have also become more sensitive. You have also known what to say and
what not to say," she added.

The Lutheran women leaders affirmed the need for further mutual
exchange and support in order to uplift female church leaders all over
the world. 

Bishop Cynthia Halmarson, Saskatchewan Synod, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada, underscored the significance of the gathering of
Lutheran women leaders: "As the only Lutheran woman bishop in Canada,
to be able listen to the experiences of other women leaders, and discuss
together common concerns is important not only for me but also for the
entire church." (466 words)

(Christine Hallenbeck, youth trainee in the LWF Office for
Communication Services contributed to this article.)

(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
freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

*     *     *

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