LWF Council Meeting 2004
Geneva, Switzerland, 1-7 September 2004
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LWF 2004 Council meeting at Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva: The 49-member Council comprises the President, the Treasurer and ordained as well as lay persons drawn from the LWF member churches. It is the LWF governing body between Assemblies, normally held every six years. The Council also includes 22 advisors. |
LWF Membership Increases to Nearly 65 Million
Membership in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has risen to nearly 65 million following the entry of three new churches into the global communion.
The LWF Council extended full membership to the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (ECCB) in the Czech Republic; the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN); and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG). One of the PCN predecessor churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, had been an LWF member church since 1947.
The endorsement of the ECCB with 123,633 members; the 26,000-member ELCG; and the PCN with 2,530,000 members brings an additional 2,664,657 members, pushing the total membership in the LWF to 64,961,682. The LWF now has 138 member churches in 77 countries. More...
Deepening of Relationships - a Significant Outcome of LWF Council Meeting
One of the most significant results of the 2004 LWF Council meeting was "not so much the actions we took but the relationships that we deepened," according to the LWF President, ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. He was speaking at the Council's closing press conference, which he addressed jointly with LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko.
Closing press conference: (from left) LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF Communication Director Karin Achtelstetter, and LWF President Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson. © LWF/H. Putsman |
Hanson noted that the priorities the Council has set for the global Lutheran communion "say a great deal about the LWF at this time." The Council named four priorities: strengthening Lutheran identity as a communion of churches in mission; deepening ecumenical commitments and fostering interfaith relations; bearing witness in church and society to God's healing, reconciliation and justice; and enhancing communication, mutual accountability and sharing.
At the press conference, Noko highlighted that various Lutheran churches were coming to altar and pulpit fellowship through their membership in the LWF, even though there had been no direct dialogue between them. However, with the Reformed and Lutheran churches in the Netherlands, which merged to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PCN), there had been lengthy dialogue at a national level. More.
Actions Taken by the LWF Council 2004 in Geneva
Main presentations at the meeting included the address of LWF President Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson (more...; full text in PDF format) and the report of LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko (more...; full text in PDF format) and the report of LWF Treasurer Mr Peter Stoll (more...; full text in PDF format).
The LWF Council re-elected Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko as LWF General Secretary for another seven-year term. The 49-member Council elected the 60-year-old Zimbabwean theologian in closed session. More.
The LWF Council condemned attacks by militia against communities in the Darfur region of Sudan and expressed dismay at the refusal of the Sudanese government to accept an adequate force of international peacekeepers in the region. In response to the massacre of over 300 hostages at a school in Beslan, Russia, the Council said it was "horrified by the news of the bloodshed." The Council described the incident as an "atrocity [that] evokes a particularly strong sense of revulsion, because the armed insurgents who planned it and carried it out deliberately targeted children. No cause can justify such inhumanity." More.
The LWF Council has appointed an eight-person Task Force on Family, Marriage and Sexuality to provide the communion with helpful background and assistance for discussion within and among member churches on these issues. More...
Other Council actions focussed on the LWF’s work through its Departments for Mission and Development, Theology and Studies, and World Service, and Offices for Communication Services, Ecumenical Affairs, Finance and Administration, and International Affairs and Human Rights.
Please click for the Message from the Pre-Council Youth Workshop (in PDF format), August 26 to 31, 2004, Geneva, Switzerland.
LWF Eleventh Assembly in 2010
Other important decisions of this year's Council meeting include the agreement to hold the LWF Eleventh Assembly in 2010. In taking this action, the Council considered the need for ecumenical coordination in view of churches' membership in other regional and global Christian organizations, as well as budgetary constraints.
Jerusalem to Host 2005 Council Meeting
The Council decided to hold its next meeting from 31 August to 7 September 2005 in Jerusalem, hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ). The previous Council had accepted the ELCJ's request to host the meeting in Jerusalem in 2001 and in 2002, but the venue was shifted on both occasions for security reasons.
Please click for all LWI Press Releases.
Photographs from the Council meeting can be ordered at LWF-Photo Service.
Click here for further information about the LWF Council.
