September 5, 2004

GENEVA - The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) General Secretary, Rev Dr Setri Nyomi has expressed hope that the Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) would take further action on recommendations of the Lutheran-Reformed Joint Working Group.

I hope as soon as it is workable, different levels of our governing bodies will be able to meet together in the near future, Nyomi stated in his message to the LWF Council at its meeting in Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva. He said this was a commitment in response to the groups recommendations following the completion of its work two years ago. The newly elected WARC Executive Committee, Nyomi informed the LWF Council, would be taking similar actions at its first meeting in 2005.

The WARC general secretary said the challenges facing Christian world communions and ecumenical organizations called for careful prioritizing, and hoped that the LWF Council would be taking many far reaching decisions in that direction. Referring to the theme of this years Council meeting, Growing Together, Growing Apart, Nyomi hoped some of those decisions would not be limited only to growing together within the Lutheran family, but would also give clear signals of growing together within the Reformation family.

The Lutheran-Reformed Joint Working Group completed its work in 2001. Its report Called to Common Communion and Common Witness, was published in 2002 and presented to the LWF Council in Wittenberg, Germany the same year. The Council approved the groups recommendation calling for the establishment of a Joint Lutheran-Reformed Commission that would, among other things, be responsible for a study project on structures of church communion, reflecting on the diversity and complementarity of ecclesiological approaches within the two confessional families as they move toward new forms of communion.

The LWF and WARC secretariats have held Joint Staff Meetings at intervals for some time, by which cooperation is monitored and promoted. The two organizations participate in several of each other's study programs.

There are currently four Lutheran-Reformed union churches with membership in both the LWF and WARC, namely the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus; Evangelical Church of the River Plate, in Argentina; the Church of Lippe, in Germany; and the Malagasy Protestant Church in France. In May this year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands merged with the countrys two largest Reformed churches to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.

The WARC brings together more than 200 Congregational, Presbyterian, Reformed and United churches comprising over 75 million Christians in over 100 countries around the world. WARC is a fellowship with roots in the sixteenth century Reformation led by John Calvin, John Knox and Ulrich Zwingli among others, and the earlier reforming movements of Jan Hus and Peter Valdes.

There are around 100 church representatives including the 49-member Council attending this years meeting at Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva. In addition there are 70 participants consisting of invited guests, LWF staff persons, interpreters, stewards and journalists. The Council is the LWFs governing body between Assemblies, normally held every six years. The current Council was elected at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada, where it held its first meeting. The Council comprises the President, the Treasurer and ordained as well as lay persons drawn from the LWF member churches. The LWF currently has 136 member churches in 76 countries all over the world, representing 62.3 million of the estimated 66 million Lutherans worldwide.

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