July 23, 2008

ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA – At its 25-30 June 2008 meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council responded to reports from LWF Program Committees for Mission and Development, World Service and Theology and Service by urging participation in an ecumenical anti-corruption initiative and the creation of an emergency response and sustainable development alliance. Further, the Council asked member churches to increase support for women in ordained ministry. Highlights of Council actions are detailed below.

Anti-Corruption Measures

The Council responded to the report of the Program Committee for Mission and Development with the recommendation that the LWF join an ecumenical process aiming to establish a code of conduct to combat corruption, an issue highlighted in the General Secretary's report to the Council.

LWF Communion

With regard to the question of how LWF's self-understanding as a communion is reflected in its methods and communication, the Council asked the LWF Secretariat to emphasize the themes of worship and spirituality in the LWF's programmatic activities.

Conflict Resolution

The Program Committee for Mission and Development detailed mediation efforts in conflicts in three LWF member churches: the Evangelical Church of the Republic of Croatia, the Lutheran Church in the Philippines and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Congo. The Program Committee expressed appreciation for the Department for Mission and Development's (DMD) role as mediator in the conflicts and affirmed the importance of conflict resolution as a DMD task.

The Council also received a report on "Practices of Mission Organizations" from DMD Director Rev. Dr Kjell Nordstokke. In the report, DMD proposed procedures enabling the sharing of important information in order to avoid "unhealthy practices of mission organizations" that might lead to conflict within the Lutheran communion.

The DMD director had informed the Council of concern expressed by the LWF Executive Committee in December 2007 about the Lutheran Evangelical Association in Finland (LEAF) – a recognized mission organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland – acting "in a church-divisive manner" in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia. He reported that an evaluation of events leading to the Executive Committee statement indicated that Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa leadership had valid concerns about LEAF's involvement in Zambia. However, Nordstokke added that LEAF recently communicated their readiness to visit the LWF Secretariat in order to clarify the situation.

The DMD report underlined the fact that, normally, mission partners from the North "are responsible for cooperating bilaterally with LWF member churches in the global South." In instances in which mission organizations take theological positions that may lead to tension or even conflict – such as in the case of women's ordination -, it is the sending church's responsibility to inform itself about partners' attitudes towards such practices.

The report also underlined DMD's gratitude for "the faithful support of many mission organizations" and its hope of strengthening relations with such organizations for the sake of "facilitating communication and prevent[ing] situations of conflict."

ACT Alliance

Having received the reports from Action by Churches Together (ACT) International and ACT Development through the Program Committee for World Service, the Council requested the LWF Secretariat and the member churches to continue to be actively involved in the creation of a unified ACT.

The Council expressed appreciation for the attempt to unify ACT International and ACT Development into one ACT alliance. It underscored the need to ensure that the unified ACT would be fully owned by the churches and their specialized ministries with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the LWF represented in the governing structures.

Established in 1995 by the LWF and WCC, the Geneva-based ACT International is a global alliance of churches and their agencies responding to emergencies worldwide. Inaugurated in February 2007, ACT Development brings together churches and related organizations in a new global alliance focusing on long-term development, building on the emergency response work already undertaken by ACT International.

The Council asked the LWF secretariat to inform both ACT International and ACT Development that the legal consequences of the merger of both organizations require a decision by the LWF Council as a founding member of ACT International, probably at the 2009 Council meeting.

Ordained Women

The Council reinforced the witness of ordained women by endorsing the communiqué "The Ongoing Reformation of the Church: the Witness of Ordained Women Today," and recommended that member churches become familiar with the LWF statement and take specific action.

The Council also moved that member churches submit their reports concerning this document to the 2009 Council meeting. The document was adopted during the consultation "Women in Ordained Ministry as Ecumenical Witness" held 27-29 March in Geneva, Switzerland and is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DTS/DTS-Documents/DTS-Ongoing_Reformation-2008.pdf.

With a view to the Eleventh LWF Assembly in 2010, the March consultation asked member churches to prepare and submit a report "of what they intend to do with regard to this matter if they do not ordain women already, or, if they do so now, how they are addressing remaining practical obstacles and seeking to further the partnership of women and men in the ministry of the church." Lastly, the consultation called for Reformation commemorations in 2017 in which the witness of women pastors and those in oversight positions is especially raised up.

In preparation for the Eleventh LWF Assembly in 2010, the Council, at the initiative of the Program Committee for Theology and Studies, urged the LWF General Secretary when coordinating Assembly content to draw on the current experience, programs and expertise of the Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) as well as of other LWF departments and local churches.

The Program Committee for Theology and Studies in its report to the Council congratulated DTS for its work with regard to the theological, ethical and spiritual dimensions of climate change.

The program committee also welcomed the new DTS project "Deepening Key Doctrinal Understandings in the Global South." The project pursues the goal of publishing studies by theologians from the global South on important, topical dogmatic issues.

The 2008 LWF Council actions are available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html.

Around 170 participants attended this year's Council meeting including church leaders, officials from LWF partner organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff and accredited media.

The Council is the LWF's governing body meeting between Assemblies held every six years. The current Council was appointed at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It comprises the President, Treasurer and 48 persons elected by the Assembly. Other members include advisors, lay and ordained persons, representing the different LWF regions.

Lutheran World Information