Latin American Lutheran Leaders Set New Tasks
Focus on Sustainability, Gender Issues and Communications
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica/GENEVA, 16 May 2006 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches in Latin America have established a working group to focus on the issue of sustainability and viability for the region's churches.
The decision to establish the group was agreed at the LWF-facilitated Latin American Church Leadership Conference (Conferencia de Liderazgo - COL) in San José, Costa Rica, 25-28 April.
The working group, which includes Rev. Adita Torres, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Peru (ILEP); Rev.Paulo Butzke, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB); and Rev. Ilo Utech, Nicaraguan Lutheran Church of Faith and Hope (ILFE), has been asked to initiate and implement a three-year sustainability program within the communion of Lutheran churches in Latin America. A plan of action will be presented to the region's church leadership by July 2006.
Another group led by the Continental Director of Women's Ministries and Gender Justice Desk of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), Rev. Judith Van Osdol (sent by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to work in the United Evangelical Lutheran Church [IELU] in Argentina), will focus on a working document presented to the COL meeting, "Ministry and Leadership from a Gender Perspective: The Search for a Common Path." One of the working group's tasks is to provide further recommendations for a broad, intensive dialogue on the subject of women and gender questions, based on the document, and on a subsequent dialogue that will include the region's churches.
The COL participants also emphasized the important role of communications in church life. Current priorities include introducing a Web site for the region, and providing technical and strategic assistance for churches to improve their communications and advocacy profiles.
The conference deliberated further on the next meeting of the LWF Council in Lund, Sweden, in March 2007. This included questions on the reconfigurat ion of the ecumenical movement.
Also discussed were the efforts the IECLB has undertaken to resolve the issue of rebaptism in a process of dialogue with the IECLB's charismatic movement. (see http://www.lutheranworld.org/news/lwi/en/1714.en.html)
The COL also recommended the introduction of a "Diakonia Day" among the region's churches in order to honor the particular importance of diaconal service in church life, and to provide a platform for the systematic review of relevant diaconal experience. In 2007, the Latin American LWF churches' annual publication series will be dedicated to diakonia, thus bringing diaconal thought and practice closer to a broader public.
The next COL meeting will be held in Chile, 16-20 April 2007. This year's conference was the first to meet under the newly established COL. Previous meetings of the region's Lutheran church leadership convened under the Conference of Bishops and Presidents (COP). (461 words)
Further information and documents on the San José conference can be found in Spanish and Portuguese at: http://conferencialiderazgo2006.blogspot.com
(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 66.2 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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