December 8, 2009

GENEVA – Lutheran leaders from North America are exploring what it means to be a communion of communities in a globalizing world at a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) regional seminar 1-12 December in Geneva, Switzerland.

The course aims to equip North American synodical staff as "multipliers in deepening and widening ecumenical and communion relationships in their respective communities," stated LWF Regional Officer for North America Rev. Teresita C. Valeriano.

"We in the North American region have a tendency to see ourselves as self-sufficient," said Rev. Paul N. Johnson, Assistant to the National Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). His hope is that this group of church leaders will become "communion ambassadors" to help the region to be connected more strongly to the wider LWF communion.

Organized in conjunction with LWF member churches the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the ELCIC, the seminar is bringing together 22 church leaders as part of a communion formation program.

Communion-Defining Ecumenism

Ecumenism figured centrally on the seminar's syllabus as participants learned about developments in dialogues between church communions and pondered the interface of these conversations with realities at the synodical and local level.

Inter-denominational cooperation is routine for Rev. Larry Ulrich in his youth ministry and mission work as Assistant to the Bishop of the ELCIC Manitoba/Northwest Ontario Synod. However, learning about what the LWF has accomplished in formal bilateral dialogues "gives an official context for what we do for practical reasons."

Dr Kathryn Johnson, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs, emphasized this mutual dependence of all levels of ecumenical engagement.

She highlighted the "communion building" role of ecumenical agreements such as the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and the action on the legacy of Lutheran persecution of Anabaptists to be taken up by the LWF Eleventh Assembly in July 2010.

The Anabaptist action will have particular implications for North America, a region where the principal LWF member churches live closely and already are in relationship with Mennonites, who consider Anabaptists their spiritual forbearers.

"There is a sort of amnesia among US Lutherans regarding the history [of persecution]," noted Rev. Michael Trice, Director of Ecumenical Formation and Inter-Religious Relations of the ELCA. He said the ELCA has learned that it is critical to address the role of memory in shaping current relationships.

There is a need to feel accountable for the tradition one bears, agreed Rev. Dr Maria Erling, Associate Professor of the History of Christianity in North America and Global Mission at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (USA). In this regard, the proposed action is a "teaching moment."

"Ecumenism is a mission story," she affirmed, and the Lutheran-Mennonite reconciliation process is an invitation to extend discussion to a wider circle.

A key challenge for seminar participants is to live out this reconciliation in an intentional, congregational way. "The heart of ecumenism is that we get engaged at a local level," emphasized Trice. "You are on the front line," he told the North American synodical staff.

Dr Johnson seconded the need for seminar participants to facilitate local reception of the action: "Look for the process, help it in your own communities."

Diaconal Church

The seminar also took a closer look at the diaconal calling of the church, seeking to uncover realities underlying response strategies to natural disaster, hunger, poverty, climate change or illegitimate debt.

Walking daily with people in their pain and struggles has "strong potential to transform churches into listening and compassionate communities," remarked Rev. Martin Junge, LWF Area Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, during a session under the theme of the Eleventh Assembly, "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread."

Junge, who was elected in October 2009 to succeed Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko as LWF general secretary, underlined that a missional church is a diaconal church. He invited the North America region to contribute actively to ongoing LWF discussion on diakonia.

During the remainder of the seminar, participants will contemplate what it means to be Lutheran Christians in an interreligious world; hear about the joys and challenges facing churches today in the different LWF regions; and engage questions of ecology and economy.

The program also includes worship in the Ecumenical Center, sessions with the director, dean and students of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, a trip to the Taizé Community in France, a visit to the United Nations and dialogue with staff from the World Council of Churches and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

According to Valeriano, the participants will be looking to "bring home" what they have learned. "We will find ways to support each other," she promised, so that the church leaders can give back what they have learned to their communities.

Lutheran World Information