wfn.org | LWI 2008-046 Anti-Corruption Measures, ACT Merger and Witness of Ordained Women Affirmed

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

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Anti-Corruption Measures, ACT Merger and Witness of Ordained
Women Affirmed

LWF Council Receives Reports on Mission and Development, World
Service, and Theology and Studies 

ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 23 July 2008 (LWI) - At its 25-30 June
2008 meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) Council responded to reports from LWF Program Committees
for Mission and Development, World Service and Theology and
Service by urging participation in an ecumenical anti-corruption
initiative and the creation of an emergency response and
sustainable development alliance. Further, the Council asked
member churches to increase support for women in ordained
ministry. Highlights of Council actions are detailed below.

>Anti-Corruption Measures

The Council responded to the report of the Program Committee for
Mission and Development with the recommendation that the LWF join
an ecumenical process aiming to establish a code of conduct to
combat corruption, an issue highlighted in the General
Secretary’s report to the Council.

>LWF Communion

With regard to the question of how LWF's self-understanding as a
communion is reflected in its methods and communication, the
Council asked the LWF Secretariat to emphasize the themes of
worship and spirituality in the LWF's programmatic activities. 

>Conflict Resolution

The Program Committee for Mission and Development detailed
mediation efforts in conflicts in three LWF member churches: the
Evangelical Church of the Republic of Croatia, the Lutheran
Church in the Philippines and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Congo. The Program Committee expressed appreciation for the
Department for Mission and Development's (DMD) role as mediator
in the conflicts and affirmed the importance of conflict
resolution as a DMD task.

The Council also received a report on "Practices of Mission
Organizations" from DMD Director Rev. Dr Kjell Nordstokke. In the
report, DMD proposed procedures enabling the sharing of important
information in order to avoid "unhealthy practices of mission
organizations" that might lead to conflict within the Lutheran
communion. 

The DMD director had informed the Council of concern expressed
by the LWF Executive Committee in December 2007 about the
Lutheran Evangelical Association in Finland (LEAF) - a recognized
mission organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Finland - acting "in a church-divisive manner" in the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Zambia. He reported that an evaluation of
events leading to the Executive Committee statement indicated
that Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa leadership had valid
concerns about LEAF's involvement in Zambia. However, Nordstokke
added that LEAF recently communicated their readiness to visit
the LWF Secretariat in order to clarify the situation.

The DMD report underlined the fact that, normally, mission
partners from the North "are responsible for cooperating
bilaterally with LWF member churches in the global South." In
instances in which mission organizations take theological
positions that may lead to tension or even conflict - such as in
the case of women's ordination -, it is the sending church's
responsibility to inform itself about partners' attitudes towards
such practices. 

The report also underlined DMD’s gratitude for "the faithful
support of many mission organizations" and its hope of
strengthening relations with such organizations for the sake of
"facilitating communication and prevent[ing] situations of
conflict."

>ACT Alliance

Having received the reports from Action by Churches Together
(ACT) International and ACT Development through the Program
Committee for World Service, the Council requested the LWF
Secretariat and the member churches to continue to be actively
involved in the creation of a unified ACT.

The Council expressed appreciation for the attempt to unify ACT
International and ACT Development into one ACT alliance. It
underscored the need to ensure that the unified ACT would be
fully owned by the churches and their specialized ministries with
the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the LWF represented in
the governing structures.

Established in 1995 by the LWF and WCC, the Geneva-based ACT
International is a global alliance of churches and their agencies
responding to emergencies worldwide. Inaugurated in February
2007, ACT Development brings together churches and related
organizations in a new global alliance focusing on long-term
development, building on the emergency response work already
undertaken by ACT International.

The Council asked the LWF secretariat to inform both ACT
International and ACT Development that the legal consequences of
the merger of both organizations require a decision by the LWF
Council as a founding member of ACT International, probably at
the 2009 Council meeting.

>Ordained Women

The Council reinforced the witness of ordained women by
endorsing the communiqué "The Ongoing Reformation of the Church:
the Witness of Ordained Women Today," and recommended that member
churches become familiar with the LWF statement and take specific
action.

The Council also moved that member churches submit their reports
concerning this document to the 2009 Council meeting. The
document was adopted during the consultation "Women in Ordained
Ministry as Ecumenical Witness" held 27-29 March in Geneva,
Switzerland and is available on the LWF Web site at:
www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DTS/DTS-Documents/DTS-Ongoing_Reformation-2008.pdf

With a view to the Eleventh LWF Assembly in 2010, the March
consultation asked member churches to prepare and submit a report
"of what they intend to do with regard to this matter if they do
not ordain women already, or, if they do so now, how they are
addressing remaining practical obstacles and seeking to further
the partnership of women and men in the ministry of the church."
Lastly, the consultation called for Reformation commemorations in
2017 in which the witness of women pastors and those in oversight
positions is especially raised up.

In preparation for the Eleventh LWF Assembly in 2010, the
Council, at the initiative of the Program Committee for Theology
and Studies, urged the LWF General Secretary when coordinating
Assembly content to draw on the current experience, programs and
expertise of the Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) as
well as of other LWF departments and local churches.

The Program Committee for Theology and Studies in its report to
the Council congratulated DTS for its work with regard to the
theological, ethical and spiritual dimensions of climate change.

The program committee also welcomed the new DTS project
"Deepening Key Doctrinal Understandings in the Global South." The
project pursues the goal of publishing studies by theologians
from the global South on important, topical dogmatic issues.

>(1,015 words)

The 2008 LWF Council actions are available on the LWF Web site
at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

>*        *          *

Around 170 participants attended this year’s Council meeting
including church leaders, officials from LWF partner
organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and
translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff and accredited media. 

The Council is the LWF’s governing body meeting between
Assemblies held every six years. The current Council was
appointed at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It
comprises the President, Treasurer and 48 persons elected by the
Assembly. Other members include advisors, lay and ordained
persons, representing the different LWF regions.

>*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 141 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.3 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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