LWI News: North American Church Leaders Must Become "Communion Ambassadors"

From "LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>
Date Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:11:33 +0100

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>http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html

North American Church Leaders Must Become "Communion

Ambassadors"

LWF Region Plays Key Role in Lutheran-Mennonite Relationships

GENEVA, 8 December 2009 (LWI)  - Lutheran leaders from North

America are exploring what it means to be a communion of

communities in a globalizing world at a Lutheran World Federation

(LWF) regional seminar 1-12 December in Geneva, Switzerland.

The course aims to equip North American synodical staff as

"multipliers in deepening and widening ecumenical and communion

relationships in their respective communities," stated LWF

Regional Officer for North America Rev. Teresita C. Valeriano. 

"We in the North American region have a tendency to see

ourselves as self-sufficient," said Rev. Paul N. Johnson,

Assistant to the National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran

Church in Canada (ELCIC).  His hope is that this group of church

leaders will become "communion ambassadors" to help the region to

be connected more strongly to the wider LWF communion.

Organized in conjunction with LWF member churches the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the ELCIC, the

seminar is bringing together 22 church leaders as part of a

communion formation program. 

>Communion-Defining Ecumenism

Ecumenism figured centrally on the seminar's syllabus as

participants learned about developments in dialogues between

church communions and pondered the interface of these

conversations with realities at the synodical and local level.

Inter-denominational cooperation is routine for Rev. Larry

Ulrich in his youth ministry and mission work as Assistant to the

Bishop of the ELCIC Manitoba/Northwest Ontario Synod. However,

learning about what the LWF has accomplished in formal bilateral

dialogues "gives an official context for what we do for practical

reasons."

Dr Kathryn Johnson, LWF Assistant General Secretary for

Ecumenical Affairs, emphasized this mutual dependence of all

levels of ecumenical engagement. 

She highlighted the "communion building" role of ecumenical

agreements such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of

Justification and the action on the legacy of Lutheran

persecution of Anabaptists to be taken up by the LWF Eleventh

Assembly in July 2010. 

The Anabaptist action will have particular implications for

North America, a region where the principal LWF member churches

live closely and already are in relationship with Mennonites, who

consider Anabaptists their spiritual forbearers. 

"There is a sort of amnesia among US Lutherans regarding the

history [of persecution]," noted Rev. Michael Trice, Director of

Ecumenical Formation and Inter-Religious Relations of the ELCA.

He said the ELCA has learned that it is critical to address the

role of memory in shaping current relationships. 

There is a need to feel accountable for the tradition one bears,

agreed Rev. Dr Maria Erling, Associate Professor of the History

of Christianity in North America and Global Mission at Lutheran

Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (USA). In this regard, the

proposed action is a "teaching moment."

"Ecumenism is a mission story," she affirmed, and the

Lutheran-Mennonite reconciliation process is an invitation to

extend discussion to a wider circle. 

A key challenge for seminar participants is to live out this

reconciliation in an intentional, congregational way. "The heart

of ecumenism is that we get engaged at a local level," emphasized

Trice. "You are on the front line," he told the North American

synodical staff.  

Dr Johnson seconded the need for seminar participants to

facilitate local reception of the action: "Look for the process,

help it in your own communities."

>Diaconal Church

The seminar also took a closer look at the diaconal calling of

the church, seeking to uncover realities underlying response

strategies to natural disaster, hunger, poverty, climate change

or illegitimate debt.

Walking daily with people in their pain and struggles has

"strong potential to transform churches into listening and

compassionate communities," remarked Rev. Martin Junge, LWF Area

Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, during a session

under the theme of the Eleventh Assembly, "Give Us Today Our

Daily Bread." 

Junge, who was elected in October 2009 to succeed Rev. Dr

Ishmael Noko as LWF general secretary, underlined that a

missional church is a diaconal church. He invited the North

America region to contribute actively to ongoing LWF discussion

on diakonia. 

During the remainder of the seminar, participants will

contemplate what it means to be Lutheran Christians in an

interreligious world; hear about the joys and challenges facing

churches today in the different LWF regions; and engage questions

of ecology and economy. 

The program also includes worship in the Ecumenical Center,

sessions with the director, dean and students of the Ecumenical

Institute at Bossey, a trip to the Taizé Community in France, a

visit to the United Nations and dialogue with staff from the

World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed

Churches.

According to Valeriano, the participants will be looking to

"bring home" what they have learned. "We will find ways to

support each other," she promised, so that the church leaders can

give back what they have learned to their communities. (802

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 79 countries all over the

world, with a total membership of 68.9 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.)