March 24, 2003

GENEVA - In the 50-year history of the World Council of Churches (WCC), there has never been such unanimity across all church traditions on a matter of public concern for Christians, said the Rev. Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary. Raiser made the comment about WCC member churches' opposition to war with Iraq in a meeting here with an 18-member delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The ELCA delegation includes bishops, pastors, members and staff who are involved in an "ecumenical journey," scheduled months before war with Iraq became a probability. The purpose of the trip is to meet with international Christian leaders in Europe. Leading the delegation is the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, who is here in his role as the church's chief ecumenical officer.

The WCC, based here, describes itself as a fellowship of 342 churches in more than 100 countries. It has consistently opposed a war with Iraq and called for a peaceful solution. The ELCA is a WCC member.

"A military solution to the current crisis could only be a last resort," Raiser said. The WCC, he said, has defended the United Nations and its charter, which says war may be considered only in cases of legitimate self-defense and if the U.N. Security Council determines a particular state represents an imminent threat to others.

"Then it [war] is only a last step," he said. Raiser, a Lutheran pastor and member of the Evangelical Church in Germany, said the direction of the ecumenical movement is as yet "undetermined." So-called evangelical and Pentecostal churches - not traditional WCC participants - are among the fastest-growing churches, he said.

"The challenge before us is how to maintain the basic concept that the ecumenical movement should be inclusive," Raiser said.

The WCC has faced significant financial challenges in recent years. For 2003-2004, the organization reduced its budget by about 15 percent, he said, resulting in fewer personnel and programs. Programs and staff are about half of what they were 10 years ago, Raiser said.

Reasons include reductions in some public funding and lack of growth in funding from member churches, he reported. "These are factors beyond our control," Raiser said. "They are compounded by declines in world financial markets. The overall structure of funding for the WCC is unstable."

Ecumenical Visits Important to Lutheran World Federation

"Strength in bonding" is unique to Lutherans worldwide, said the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), at the delegation's first meeting here. Based here, the LWF is a global communion of Lutheran churches, including 136 churches in 76 countries. Its worldwide membership includes 61.7 million Lutherans. The ELCA is an LWF member.

"Visiting one another is central to the life of the communion," Noko said. "The journey you're on is an apostolic journey. It is a journey on behalf of the whole communion." The LWF hopes to develop a formal program around apostolic journeys, he said.

A significant undertaking for the LWF is its upcoming assembly, set for July 21-31 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. About 800 delegates, visitors and staff are expected to be in attendance for worship, prayer, discussions and business sessions in which delegates will hear from LWF leaders, invited guests, conduct elections and consider resolutions. The ELCA will have 17 delegates at the assembly and several staff.

"The assembly is a unique opportunity," he said. "The church, by its nature, is an assembly. It is the nature of the church to assemble."

Strasbourg Institute Is 'Think Tank' for LWF

The ELCA delegation met with Dr. Theodor Dieter, director, Ecumenical Institute of Strasbourg. He described the institute as a "think tank" for the LWF, which engages in theological research, participates in official church dialogues and is involved in what he called "ecumenical communication."

Though related to LWF and funded by many of its churches, including the ELCA, the institute is located nearby in France. "The founders wanted it to be separate and independent from church policy," Dieter said.

One of the brightest moments for the institute was its role in shaping the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), signed by the LWF and the Vatican in 1999. That document declared that Lutherans and Catholics had reached agreement that believers are saved by God through faith in Jesus Christ and not necessarily by the believer's works. The issue was central to the Protestant Reformation.

"There is no dialogue led by the LWF in the last 30 years in which the Strasbourg Institute was not a participant," he said. "This is an area in which we try to help the LWF in its ecumenical work." The JDDJ "could not" have happened for the Lutherans without the Institute, he added.

Dieter and the delegation discussed a recent document on the Lutheran understanding of the office of bishop. Called "The Episcopal Ministry Within the Apostolicity of the Church," the statement was developed at a consultation of Lutheran members of international ecumenical dialogues involving the LWF. The consultation took place Nov. 16-21, 2002, at Malta.

The document was presented last week to the LWF Executive Committee, Hanson reported. "This is a very helpful document," he said. "It's a clear statement about episcopacy."

The document clearly states that the office of pastor and office of bishop is "one ministry," Dieter said. "That is different from the Anglican understanding."

"There is a necessity to have bishops, just as there is a need to have pastors," Dieter said of another section. The document is intended for study and conversation in the church, he said.

In addition, the document states that "the relation between the ministry of the bishop and the unity of the church makes it theologically and symbolically appropriate" that bishops preside at ordinations. It also said that bishops "represent and promote the unity and common life of the many local congregations within the church at large."

ELCA theologians who participated in the consultation were the Rev. Guy Edmiston, former bishop of the ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod, Harrisburg, Pa.; Dr. Mickey Mattox, Strasbourg Institute; and Dr. Michael Root, an ELCA associate in ministry and professor of systematic theology, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.

WARC, CEC Share Similar Interests as ELCA

A full-communion agreement the ELCA adopted in 1997 has been significant for Reformed churches worldwide, said the Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary, World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), based here.

"I want to pay tribute to that [agreement] as something that has inspired us," Nyomi said. The agreement - known as "A Formula of Agreement," was adopted by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in 1997. It is a full-communion agreement of the ELCA and three U.S. Reformed churches - the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.

The Rev. Jon Enslin, associate director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, cited several examples of Lutheran-Reformed cooperation involving the churchwide and national offices of the church bodies.

WARC published a report in 2002, "Called to Communion and Common Witness." In the report, a joint Lutheran-Reformed working group reviewed developments between the church bodies, discussed visible symbols of communion, examined collaboration between the LWF and WARC and made recommendations for the future. The report is being sent to members churches of LWF and WARC for further study.

There are 125 churches in the Conference of European Churches (CEC), said the Rev. Keith Clements, general secretary. It was formed during the Cold War to build relationships between churches and people in eastern and western Europe, he said.

"September 11 (2001) raised the importance of relationships between the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) and CEC, Clements said. In recent weeks, as the possibility of war with Iraq became more likely, NCC and CEC were in daily contact, he said.

One "big concern" for CEC member churches are immigrants and refugees in Europe, Clements said. Currently, the organization is most concerned about those fleeing war in Iraq, who may not be granted refugee status, he added.

ELCA News Service