wfn.org | Internal Movements Threaten Future of Brazilian Lutheran

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

Internal Movements Threaten Future of Brazilian Lutheran Church
Former LWF President Brakemeier Stresses Investment in IECLB's
Continuity 

SAO LEOPOLDO, Brazil/GENEVA, 24 August 2005 (LWI) * A former president
of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB)
has called for change within the Brazilian Lutheran church, saying its
current structure was not viable for the church's growth and future.

Rev. Dr Gottfried Brakemeier, IECLB President 1985-1994, said the
"feared division of the IECLB is in process," due to different currents
organized as movements within the church. He stressed the need to invest
in the church's continuity, which implied eliminating internal barriers
that were impeding growth, controlling its centrifuge forces and joining
together in a common project. 

Brakemeier, also former president of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF), 1990-1997, issued his remarks in an article sent electronically
in June to leaders and movements within the church as "a contribution
toward a necessary debate." It became known to a wider public in July,
weeks after the current IECLB President, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann had
issued a pastoral letter warning that the church could face a "painful
schism" impelled by a charismatic movement within it. 

Altmann's pastoral letter, issued July 9, named four pastors who asked
to be withdrawn from the church's clergy roster, and three congregations
that have constituted themselves independently. The IECLB Council
decided to distribute Brakemeier's article widely for discussion within
the church that has around 1,200 congregations served by more than 800
pastors.

IECLB President Walter Altmann Affirmed Rejection of Re-baptism

Theological questions are at the root of the conflict. In December
2004, Altmann stated the church's rejection of the practice of
re-baptism that pastors linked to the charismatic movement had
introduced into Lutheran congregations. His recent pastoral letter
clarified that the IECLB was opposed to the practice of re-baptism due
to confessional issues, but did not reject the re-baptized people. The
church, Altmann affirmed, "must be willing and be prepared to pastorally
cope with all people who, for reasons of conscience, have submitted to
re-baptism." 

The forces Brakemeier was referring to are internal movements in the
same structure including the Lutheran Grassroots Pastoral movement,
Encontrao Movement, the Christian Union Evangelical Mission, Martin
Luther Communion, and Charismatic Renewal. He emphasized, however, that
the differences were not harmful as long as the sectors remained
integrated and focused toward the same direction.

He also cited the IECLB's three theological faculties, formation
centers with different bibliographic references and theological
orientation and the movements, which have their own devotionals, song
books, publishing houses and administrative systems.

Brakemeier emphasized that the major victims of these discrepancies
were the communities and parishes. "If they had opted in favor of one of
the 'lines' in the IECLB, the rupture would have taken place long ago,"
he remarked.

The Lutheran leader referred to a study by former IECLB secretary
general, Rev. Gerd Uwe Kliewer, indicating that the church's membership
barely grew 0.3 percent from 1997 to 2002. It had 715,000 members in
2002, less than 0.5 percent of Brazil's estimated population of 180
million. 

Brakemeier also challenged the IECLB about its role as a missionary
church. Timid in the past, because it limited itself to offering
pastoral support to German immigrants, the IECLB, in an increasingly
multi-religious setting, must urgently define its identity in
"rigorously confessional terms," he said. He recommended "ecumenical
learning" in the use of media for evangelization, without necessarily
trying to imitate methods used by other Christians. 

Brakemeier invited people to rediscover the delight of the Lutheran
faith. "Its delight is not limited to some dogmas of faith. It is a way
of being." The Lutheran confession invites people to faith without
prohibiting critical reasoning, he added.

The IECLB currently has 710,000 members. It joined the LWF in 1952.
(625 words)

(Latin American and Caribbean News Agency * ALC)

(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.)

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