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FEATURE: A Watershed in the Search for Christian Unity Lutherans' Sustained Ecumenical Engagement Is a Major Contribution to Global Process
NAIROBI, Kenya/GENEVA, 29 November 2007 (LWI) - In her evening prayer, Rev. Dr Gloria Rojas Vargas, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH) led others in floating in a clear bowl of water flowers representing the world's continents - flowers which would open to their full beauty in their own time.
The IELCH leader offered her symbolic prayer for the work of the Global Christian Forum (GCF), held 6-9 November 2007 at Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya. Describing itself as the most diverse gathering in Christian history, the GCF assembled 245 representatives of Christian communities from 72 nations and six continents under the theme "Our Journey with Jesus Christ, the Reconciler."
Rojas joined a nine-person Lutheran World Federation (LWF) delegation to the GCF led by General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko. The representatives of LWF member churches participated in the forum's plenary and regional group meetings, and in a session designated for gathering "by tradition." The latter was attended by almost two dozen Lutherans, including representatives from a wide range of ecumenical organizations.
Overlapping groups of Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and African Instituted Churches joined with Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and members of what were called "historic Protestant" churches like those of the LWF in the forum process, which included open encounters centered around sharing of personal testimonies of participants' encounters with Christ.
Mutual Recognition
Mealtime conversation added to the enthusiastic accounts of shedding stereotypes and recognizing Christ's presence in an expanded range of faithful living. As one member of the LWF delegation said, the spirit in Limuru went beyond "tolerance" - there was an open "spirit of curiosity" about one another and recognition of "our mutual interdependence."
One of the observations made among the Lutheran participants was the need for a deep understanding of the many communities whose rapid growth was changing the worldâs face of Christianity "as we seek our own paths of faithful witness to Christ in our contexts."
At the same time, however, a number of Lutheran participants noted that honest conversation about issues of disagreement was also essential to growth in respectful relationship. They hoped future GCF meetings could include such difficult topics as the understandings of evangelism - not with the aim to seek consensus or a common statement but in order to deepen understanding.
There was much discussion about the forum's future at regional and local levels, and a committee will explore additional international events. In a final "message," (See Message from the Global Christian Forum at http://www.oikoumene.org/fileadmin/files/wcc-main/2007pdfs/GCF_Message.pdf) participants agreed on the value of an "open space" to foster mutual respect and address common challenges.
"This is a forum that we had hoped and prayed for without being sure what it would turn out to be," Noko noted. He described the result of the GCF as historic and a watershed in the search for Christian unity. "I have no doubt that this will have positive impact on the reception of ecumenical agreements and on ongoing bilateral discussions. The test of it all will be what happens at the national and regional levels thereafter," he said.
"Lutherans bring to the GCF a significant contribution from their sustained ecumenical engagement with other faith communities around the world," added LWF delegation member Prof. Kathryn Johnson, currently interim ecumenical officer at the LWF Office for Ecumenical Affairs.
In preparation since the 1990s, the GCF aims to bring "into conversation with one another C hristians and churches from very different traditions who have little [in common] or never talked to each other," the organization's Web site states. Regional gatherings have been held in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. (617 words)
(*Prof. Kathryn L. Johnson prepared the GCF analysis for Lutheran World Information. The other LWF delegation members to the forum included Bishop Jessica R. Crist (United States), Rev. Iteffa Gobena (Ethiopia), Dr Chiropafadzo Moyo (Zimbabwe), Bishop Dr Bonar Napitupulu (Indonesia), Rev. Dr Joachim Track (Germany) and Archbishop Anders H. Wejryd (Sweden).
* Johnson, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) assumed her tasks as interim ecumenical officer at the LWF in July 2007.
The position of LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs has not been filled since the departure of Church of Norway pastor Rev. Sven Oppegaard, who held the post from 1997 until mid-December 2006.
Internationally, Johnson has been a member of the Lutheran-Reformed Joint Commission, and locally, a member of the ELCA bilateral dialogue with the United Methodist Church. She has been active in local ecumenism in her home state, Kentucky, serving on many regional dialogues, and as president of the Kentucky Council of Churches.
Since 1984, Johnson has taught on the faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where she is Paul Tudor Jones Professor of Church History. She holds a doctorate in the history of Christianity from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, and a Masterâs Degree in theology from Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
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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 nearly 66.7 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith 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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