30 August 30, 2011

ORLANDO, Florida, USA/GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge has praised Lutherans in the United States for their contribution to the global church, noting the collaboration helps make the church whole.

Addressing 1,000 delegates to the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on 17 August at Orlando, Florida, Junge reminded the 4.5 million-member church it was in turn supported by the prayers of Lutherans worldwide.

"None of our communities alone can be all that the Church of Jesus Christ is meant to be. We are incomplete without unity with one another," Junge said.

"We would not have the LWF without the leadership of American Lutherans. That was true at the beginning, in 1947, and it has remained an important aspect of who we are today," the LWF general secretary added.

Junge said that the ELCA had generously shared its resources and leaders with the LWF, including Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, the past LWF President, and Ms Christina Jackson-Skelton, the church's Executive Director of Mission Advancement, who is LWF Chairperson of the Finance Committee.

The ELCA Churchwide Assembly, which represents members in 65 Synods and 10,000 congregations, is the church's largest legislative authority. It met 15-19 August under the theme, "Freed in Christ to Serve."

Commenting on the theme, Junge suggested that serving others meant being exposed to their pain. To enrich this service, Lutherans should collaborate ecumenically, across faith lines, and with civil society.

"If we act only on our own, we must ask if we are open enough to all the ways God is active in the world. It is our experience that diaconal work draws upon our best ecumenical advances and interfaith bridge-building, and this also strengthens ecumenical dialogues," Junge said.

The LWF general secretary reflected on the theme "Freed in Christ to Serve" in the light of his recent visit to Kenya, where the LWF is responsible for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camp at Dadaab, the largest in the world with a population of more than 400,000.

"There I saw how churches are responding to drought and hunger in their communities, thus expressing their holistic understanding of mission. Because Jesus did not make a dichotomy between body and soul, the church in mission is called to engage with human beings in precisely this attitude," Junge said.

Commenting on the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran movement, Junge told the Assembly that the 2017 commemoration would be ecumenically accountable and self-critical.

"If we want to be true to the spirit of Lutheran Reformation, we can't just remain ‘churches of the Reformation' with our eyes on the past. Rather, together with others, we are ‘churches in an ongoing process of reform,' therefore confidently looking into the future," he said.

"To discern our next steps, we need the wisdom, engagement and support of the ELCA, and of all our member churches," Junge emphasized. "Lutheran Reformation has a long history; but it is not history," he added.

During the ELCA Assembly, delegates agreed to launch the ELCA Malaria Campaign, which promises to raise USD 15 million over four years and join African Lutheran churches in working towards a malaria-free future in 11 countries on the continent.

The Churchwide Assembly also adopted a social statement on genetics, "Genetics, Faith and Responsibility," one of the first of its kind in North America. It agreed to a series of resolutions from an ELCA task group charged with recommending options for the future of the church that focus on its identity and its call to mission in a changing environment.

Lutheran World Information