March 28, 2007

LUND, Sweden/GENEVA – At its meeting this year, the Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) asked the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) to explore possibilities for theological, spiritual and ethical reflection on urgent environmental challenges, especially with regard to climate change.

Acting on recommendations presented by the Program Committee for Theology and Studies, the Council asked DTS to draw upon the realities and perspectives of member churches and field programs through the LWF Departments for Mission and Development (DMD) and World Service (DWS), and of indigenous communities.

The LWF governing body requested DTS to also collaborate with the LWF Office for International Affairs and Human Rights (OIAHR), World Council of Churches (WCC), other ecumenical partners and theologians working in this area.

The Council received the proposals from DTS on 26 March, the same day it decided on recommendations from other program committees dealing with the various aspects of LWF's work. The LWF governing body meets every 12-18 months. This year's meeting from 20-27 March, coincided with celebrations to mark the Federation's 60th anniversary, which included a church leadership consultation and other meetings, all taking place in the Swedish city of Lund, where the LWF was founded in 1947. A youth workshop prior to the Council was held in Hoor, southern Sweden.

Also brought to the Council's attention, was concern for theological responses to urgent issues facing the member churches throughout the world in view of fundamentalism. The Council therefore requested the LWF general secretary to forward to the member churches and related theological institutions a letter urging them to engage in further discussion and action on fundamentals for a Lutheran communion in the face fundamentalism. The letter was adopted at a theological seminar organized in Lund under the ongoing DTS program, "Theology in the Life of the Church."

In view of the different ways in which diaconal ministry is institutionalized in the churches, the Council called upon the LWF member churches to consider strengthening and, where applicable, establishing the diaconal ministry along with the pastoral ministry as part of the holistic public ministry of the church. It noted that in doing so, this would imply ensuring a kind of formation and training for diaconal ministers that adequately equips and qualifies them for this ministry.

The Council also affirmed that the changing historical and contextual conditions called for adapting the ordered public ministry of the church in a world in desperate need of healing, as emphasized by the 2003 Tenth Assembly. The LWF governing body affirmed the diaconal ministry as an embodied witness to "God's power of healing at the fault lines of God's broken creation." Rev. Dr Barbara Rossing (USA) is chairperson of the Theology and Studies Program Committee.

Lund Statement – Episcopal Ministry within the Apostolicity of the Church

At this year's meeting, the LWF Council received through the Program Committee for Ecumenical Affairs, a the text of the LWF statement, the "Episcopal Ministry within the Apostolicity of the Church – The Lund Statement by the Lutheran World Federation – A Communion of Churches – March 2007." The Council affirmed the text as an appropriate current expression of the Lutheran understanding of the ministry of oversight, and thanked the member churches for their cooperation in the process leading to the text. The Council asked the general secretary to submit the text to the member churches for study and appropriation in their different contexts.

Pontifical Council Praised for Fruitful Dialogue

On Lutheran-Roman Catholic relations, the Council asked the general secretary to convey thanks to Walter Cardinal Kasper, President ofncil for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU),for ten years of fruitful dialogue on the important topic of the church's apostolicity, under the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity.

The general secretary was also requested to thank the Commission's members and consultants for their lasting commitment and valuable contributions over many years to the exploration of this topic, of which a study document, "The Apostolicty of the Church" has been produced. The Council asked the general secretary to send the book to the member churches for study and response, and to establish a working group to process the responses received and provide a report to the Council.

The Ecumenical Affairs committee explained that the next phase of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity would need considerable reflection and preparation, and could not begin before 2008 at the earliest. The Council therefore asked the general secretary by means of the LWF – PCPCU Joint Staff Meeting to develop a theme for the next phase of the Commission, and to submit the proposal for the theme, the Lutheran composition of the commission, and a program plan to the next LWF Council meeting.

The Council approved the plan for an international Study Commission on the Broader Biblical Basis for the Doctrine of Justification, the commission's composition – 4 Lutherans, 4 Roman Catholics, 2 Reformed and 2 Methodists (12 participants) – a Lutheran membership consistent with the LWF commitment to gender and global South percentages regarding inclusivity, and that other communions be encouraged to do likewise. It was agreed that the LWF general secretary and PCPCU president would invite the Reformed and Methodist participants to the group.

On Lutheran-Orthodox relations, the general secretary was asked to approve the publication of a collective volume (in English, French, German, Greek and Russian) of all statements adopted in this dialogue from 1981 to 2006, under the condition that full funding is available. The general secretary will also send the Statement on the Eucharist from the 2006 meeting of the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission to the member churches for careful study.

Concerning Lutheran-Reformed relations, the Program Committee informed the Council about the November 2006 first joint meeting between the Officers of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the LWF Executive Committee. The Council endorsed the continuation of the common efforts of cooperation between the LWF, WARC and other Christian world communions (CWCs).

The Council approved the Program Committee's recommendation to approve the LWF's 2007 financial contribution to the secretariat of the Global Christian Forum (GCF), and the participation of 10 Lutherans in the November 2007 meeting of the GCF in Nairobi, Kenya.

After receiving an update on the LWF's engagement in discussions on a reconfiguration of the ecumenical movement and ecumenism in the 21st century, and of the decision by the Conference of Secretaries (CS) of CWCs including the LWF, to explore further the options for stronger participation of CWCs in global ecumenical assemblies, the LWF Council asked the general secretary to continue the common efforts for cooperation including the active pursuance of the LWF involvement in this "important area."

The Council thanked the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France, for its continued support and substantial contributions to the bilateral dialogues, as well as assistance to the LWF Office for Ecumenical Affairs.

Prof. Joachim Track is chairperson of the Program Committee for Ecumenical Affairs.

Lutheran World Information