September 7, 2010

GENEVA – The President of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan has urged organizations providing humanitarian relief to people affected by the recent flooding in Pakistan to coordination such assistance effectively in order to reach those in need.

In a statement issued today, Younan called on all humanitarian relief agencies – religious and secular – "to draw on our shared common values and principles and find ways and means to coordinate our work together in a common strategy that ensures far-reaching support to the people in need in Pakistan." Disaster, he emphasized, "does not differentiate along ethnic, political or religious lines; neither should we."

Younan is bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. He was elected LWF president at the organization's Eleventh Assembly in July this year.

In his statement, he affirmed LWF's continuing support to the current and previous disasters in Pakistan through the global emergency and development network ACT (Action by Churches Together). The country has faced a number of calamities since 2005 – two major earthquakes, flooding, internal armed conflict and ongoing drought – further threatening food security and provision of other basic needs such as shelter and health.

Younan urged LWF member churches "to uphold in ceaseless prayers the people and churches of Pakistan, and their witness at this time."

Recalling the Message of the July 2010 Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany, under the theme "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread," the president said the LWF member churches committed themselves to "sharing not only our material goods, but also our knowledge and know-how with others" and by "caring for the environment, which we do not own, so future generations may enjoy the fruits of creation and lead wholesome lives."

Younan especially urged churches and their related organizations carrying out humanitarian work to renew their commitment to the care of creation. "With one disaster following upon another, the environment is once again responding to humankind's failure to care for the world God gave us," he added.

The full text of the LWF President's statement is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/?attachment_id=15847.

Lutheran World Federation