April 13, 2006

GENEVA – The head of the host church for the 11th Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in 2010 anticipates a major outcome of the LWF event in Stuttgart, Germany, to be emphasis on the ecumenical nature of Christianity in the future.

"We want Stuttgart to constitute a semicolon for our common ecumenical future in the world," said Bishop Frank Otfried July, Evangelical Church in Württemberg, during his first official visit to the LWF Geneva Secretariat on 7 April.

The Wuerttemberg church considers it important also to have strong delegations of guests from other churches attending the assembly, July told Lutheran World Information (LWI) in an interview.

Emphasizing his church's ecumenical and missionary commitment, he said it hoped to open the doors wide and invite many people representing different nationalities, backgrounds and religious convictions to Stuttgart in order to celebrate a festival of faith. He said it was important that reconciled diversity is made visible, and that a new door could be opened in the ecumenical history of the LWF.

July has been bishop of the Wuerttemberg church since July 2005. With 2.35 million members, it is the third-largest LWF member church in Germany, and was a founding member church of the Federation in 1947.

"We want our hospitality in Stuttgart to underline that we still have an ecumenical vision and that, as a regional church, we want to make our contribution to promoting this vision," he said.

The German bishop hoped the assembly would be an opportunity for the host church to see again "that we are a part of a worldwide communion endeavoring to witness to the gospel in this world, and find answers to social questions on the basis of the Lutheran confession." In hosting the LWF event, the church also wanted to demonstrate the active engagement of German churches in issues concerning churches worldwide, he said, adding that this could strengthen the churches in Germany as well.

In discussions with LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko and other LWF staff persons, July said his church had already appointed a working group for the assembly's local preparations. "We have had a lot of experience with big events in Stuttgart," he said, referring to the 28th German Protestant Kirchentag (convention) held in Stuttgart in 1999. The organization of the LWF assembly is included in the church's mid-term financial plan, he noted.

Concerning entry visas for some of the assembly participants, July emphasized that contact had already been established with the respective German authorities. "We shall naturally take advantage of the good political links we have to make it clear to the federal government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Federal President that we want to be hosts to an international assembly, and that hospitality essentially includes opening doors to the invited guests." Although it would not be possible yet to anticipate the international political situation in 2010, "as far as we are concerned, we shall do everything possible to ensure that there are no problems in this area [visa issuance]," he said.

The Wuerttemberg church bishop also met with representatives of the Ecumenical Center-based Conference of European Churches (CEC), World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and World Council of Churches (WCC). In the coming months, he plans to meet with Walter Cardinal Kasper, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Lutheran World Information