October 20, 2005

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – In response to emerging fundamental, charismatic movements around the world today, Lutherans must remain secure in the fact that they also have an understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, the Rev. Mark S. Hanson told leaders of the Igreja Evangelica de Confissao Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) – Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil – in a meeting here Oct. 12.

Hanson, president of the 66-million-member Lutheran World Federation (LWF), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and presiding bishop of the 4.9-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Chicago, met with members of the IECLB Oct. 9-14 to learn about the mission and ministry of the church throughout Brazil. The IECLB is the largest Latin American member of the LWF and a "partner church" of the ELCA.

Lutheran Christians in Brazil and around the world can "make a contribution as to how we read and understand the Bible, and how we describe the work of the Holy Spirit rather than become defensive or fearful about other movements," he said.

Hanson shared an experience from a recent trip to Nigeria, where Lutherans in the African country (immediately after worship) inquired about how the Pentecostal movement is drawing people away from the Lutheran churches there. In response Hanson said, he told them, "‘Didn't you just confess your faith in the triune God and in the words of the Apostle Creed, and didn't you confess that you believe in Jesus Christ?' They responded with a ‘yes,' so I said, ‘Then you are charismatic because, as Lutherans, we believe the Holy Spirit works through the gospel, and the first work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to faith.'" Hanson said the membership of Lutheran churches in Africa has increased by more than 1 million members.

"Bishop Hanson's visit is extremely important to us," said the Rev. Walter Altmann, pastor president of the IECLB. Altmann and other leaders of the IECLB led the Oct. 12 meeting. The ELCA and IECLB "are partner churches" and that relationship has "helped us in many ways with the sharing of resources and personnel," he said.

Hanson's role as president of the LWF "also strengthens our feeling of being part of the worldwide communion and represents a strong witness and service the church is rendering in this country," Altmann said.

"We are brothers and sisters, part of one family in the body of Christ, especially with the increasing plurality of religious expressions, challenges in the social, political and economic scenery here. The (ELCA and IECLB) can support each other in the face of these challenges," he said.

Altmann and his IECLB colleagues described the life of the church, which has been affected by the migration of the rural population from southern to northern Brazil and by the increased poverty of the middle class that makes up the membership of the IECLB.

The IECLB is different from other church structures because of its understanding of ministry in the church, said Altmann. "The ministry of the church is expressed in a fourfold way – pastoral, diaconal, catechetic and mission ministry," he said. Pastors, deacons and catechists of the church preach the gospel and administer the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Altmann said.

In describing the ELCA to members of the IECLB, Hanson likened the age of the ELCA to that of a teenager. "The ELCA is a young church. It is 18 years old," he said. "As one who has parented six children through the age of 18, I recognize that age as a time when one is both claiming one's identity given by one's parents and family but also creating a sense of one's independence and own identity. As the ELCA, I think that we are in that place of claiming the gifts of our predecessor churches and our immigrant ancestors, but becoming more clear about what it means to be evangelical Lutherans in a diverse, changing American global context."

On behalf of the ELCA, Hanson received a letter and $2,500 from members of the IECLB to support the ELCA's relief and recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, which struck areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast Aug. 28-29.

Altmann, Hanson and the Rev. Callon W. Holloway met Oct. 13 with the Rev. Carlos Walter Winterle, president of the Igreja Evangelica Luterana do Brasil (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil) – a fellowship of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Hanson and Winterle shared information about one another's church ministries.

Accompanying Hanson was his wife Ione, Holloway, bishop of the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus, Ohio, and the Rev. Raquel E. Rodriguez, director for the Latin America and Caribbean desk, ELCA Global Mission, Chicago.

Hanson Visits ‘Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem'

"We are a church of immigrants," said the Rev. Helmar Reinhard Roelke, synod pastor, Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem – a synod of the IECLB with offices in the city of Vitoria, located in the Brazilian state of Espiritu Santo. Roelke and other leaders of the synod met Oct. 10 with Hanson.

Through an interpreter Roelke described the 180-year history of the Lutheran church in Brazil, tracing its ancestry to that of evangelical German immigrants. After many years, the evangelical immigrants understood their theological and ecclesiastical identity as being of the Lutheran Confession and organized congregations. Independent synods, made of up of congregations throughout the country, formed and constituted the IECLB in 1949.

Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem and the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod are working toward a "companion relationship" where members of both synods can "pray, support and engage in ministries together," Holloway said.

"I am touched by the personal reception I received from members of the Espirito Santo synod. Roelke is a man of prayer," Holloway said. "Together we will be a community of saints sent out to be the salt of the earth. I look forward to being prayer partners and sharing our joys and frustrations," he said.

"The companion relationship begins when we confess our faith together," Roelke said.

Mark Hanson, Ione Hanson, and other ELCA leaders visited some of the immigrant congregations in rural Espiritu Santo and other ministries of the synod, such as "Albergue Martin Lutero" – a shelter that provides food and a place to stay for people receiving outpatient care at the local hospital in Vitoria.

The ELCA group also visited the Reconciliation Community Program in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Oct. 14. Funded in part through the ELCA World Hunger Program and ELCA Global Mission, the program provides care and education for children and teenagers from low-income families. The program works to create a "worthy social and educational space for children to keep them off the streets." It provides care for about 300 children from 6 to 16 years of age, and its "Children's Cozy Place" cares for 75 children ages 3 to 6.

ELCA News Service