wfn.org | 'We Need the Prophetic Voice of Africa'

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

'We Need the Prophetic Voice of Africa'
Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Conference Receives LWF Mission Document

WINDHOEK, Namibia/GENEVA, 14 November 2005 (LWI) * "We need the prophetic
voice of Africa. Africa's spirituality is a gift to the world," said Rev.
Dr Kjell Nordstokke, director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Department for Mission and Development (DMD). He was presenting the LWF
Mission Document, 'Mission in Context: Transformation, Reconciliation,
Empowerment - An LWF Contribution to the Understanding and Practice of
Mission' to the Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Conference, taking place
November 9*14 in Windhoek, Namibia, under the theme "From Isolation to
Communion: For the Healing of Africa."

More than 80 representatives of African Lutheran churches received the
document 12 November 2005, committing to the implementation of its
principles and aims.

European and North American churches are losing 6,000 members a day, while
African churches are receiving 23,000 new Christian members a day. The
growing strength of African Christianity means Africans are becoming more
and more prominent within the worldwide Christian community, Nordstokke
said. Africa already is playing a leading role in inter-faith dialogue.
Africans have assumed important church leadership positions, as exemplified by LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko from Zimbabwe.

In his presentation, Nordstokke related the three sections of the
document*"Contexts of Mission," "Theology of Mission," and "Practice of
Mission"*to the context of Africa. While the growth of Christianity in
Africa is a sign of hope, African churches are concurrently faced with an
increasing number of members suffering from a new devastating poverty
caused by HIV/AIDS, wars and people's displacement.

This context of African reality has to be connected to the theological
core of the mission document, Nordstokke said. He stressed the holistic
nature of mission, based in the three key concepts: Transformation,
Reconciliation, and Empowerment. "These three key concepts test if you are
truly in mission," he said. They have the special strength of being
interdisciplinary terms, which are used theologically, and in the social
sciences. Accordingly, Nordstokke urged the conference participants to
seek exact authentic translations of the concepts in their own languages.

In practical terms, Nordstokke said, mission in Africa today means finding
ways of sharing resources and defining new roles for Africa's mission
partners, and for African church leadership in the world. "The task*is to
proclaim hope, offer hospitality, resist all mechanisms of exclusion, and
bear witness to values that defend human dignity and justice," he
concluded.

The 62-page publication Mission in Context: Transformation, Reconciliation, Empowerment - An LWF Contribution to the Understanding and Practice of
Mission was produced by the LWF-DMD. It builds on the 1988 LWF Mission
Document, "Together in God's Mission: An LWF Contribution to the Understanding of Mission," and aims to encourage self-analysis and reaffirmation of
mission in context among the LWF member churches and other bodies.

The Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Conference is being jointly hosted
by the LWF and the three Lutheran churches in Namibia*the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN); Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Namibia (ELCIN); and the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Namibia (ELCIN-GELC). (514 words)

*	*	*

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140
member churches in 78 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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