LWF 60th Anniversary Celebrations to Include a Church Leadership Consultation Strengthening the Bonds of Communion, Shaping a Vision for the Future
GENEVA, 18 July 2006 (LWI) * The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) 60th anniversary celebrations during next year's LWF Council meeting in Lund, Sweden, will include a church leadership consultation. Including women and youth leaders, it will gather together the heads of all LWF member churches.
In a letter to the member churches, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko writes that the Council meeting and anniversary celebrations will take place 21*27 March 2007. LWF President, Bishop Mark S. Hanson will address the event that will combine the two-day church leadership consultation and a four-day Council meeting.
Inviting the churches to consider these dates in their planning, Noko says he hopes the anniversary celebrations "in the birthplace of the LWF" will be a highly significant moment, and place, for the member church leaders "to reflect on the LWF's past and future." He points out that, in the context of the 60th anniversary observance, a number of the LWF regional groupings have already indicated willingness to hold their meetings in Lund. The 2007 Council Meeting/Church Leadership Consultation is being planned in such a way that sufficient time will be provided for these "regional meetings."
The LWF Council agreed, at its September 2005 meeting in Bethlehem, that its next meeting would take place in conjunction with celebrations to mark the 60 years since the federation's founding.
An LWF staff team headed by LWF Deputy General Secretary Rev. Chandran Paul Martin, recently met with the leaders of the Church of Sweden and the Diocese of Lund for preparatory discussions. Bishop Christina Odenberg, leader of the Diocese of Lund since 1997, told the visiting LWF team, "The Church of Sweden and the Diocese of Lund are greatly honored to host the events, and we will do everything possible to make it a memorable and meaningful" occasion.
The church has seconded Rev. Ragnar Svenserud to serve as full-time coordinator of the events. Arrangements are underway to hold the Jubilee Service at the historic Lund Cathedral, and to hold the anniversary celebrations in the university hall, where the LWF was actually founded in 1947. Various organizing committees are being set up, and to allow for fuller participation, the church plans to convene its Bishop's Conference concurrently.
Noko thanks the Church of Sweden for agreeing to host the significant event, saying, "I believe we can help shape a vision for the future of the LWF, and at the same time strengthen the bonds of communion and fellowship between us." The meeting will be an opportunity "to renew our fellowship," receive the input of the major ecumenical partners, and "re-imagine the future of the LWF and of the wider ecumenical movement of which we are a part."
The first consultation to bring all leaders of the LWF member churches together was held in August 1994 in Geneva. The participants recommended that a similar consultation be held between the LWF Ninth and Tenth Assemblies, but it had to be postponed for financial reasons. (514 words)
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(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.)
[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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