LWF Council Meeting 2005
Jerusalem/Bethlehem, 31 August - 6 September 2005
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The plenary sessions
of the LWF Council meeting are being held at the International
Center of Bethlehem. |
LWF President Hanson Asks the
Church to Stand
with the Suffering
We have come to Bethlehem to listen, to witness, to challenge and to pray for a lasting and just peace, the President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Mark S. Hanson told participants in this years LWF Council Meeting in the International Center Bethlehem on Wednesday, 31 August.
Bishop Mark S. Hanson, LWF president, said in his address to the LWF Council, that the council came to Bethlehem "to witness, to challenge and to pray for a lasting and just peace." © LWF/J.Brooks |
The LWF president noted that the ministry of reconciliation begins and is renewed as the assembly gathers in Christ around the means of grace on behalf of the whole creation. “Therefore, we are so bold as to claim there is joy and celebration in the ministry of reconciliation. May we as the LWF Council experience that joy as we renew our commitment to a ministry of reconciliation for Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth.”
Presenting the President’s Address to the annual LWF governing body, Hanson reminded the LWF Council participants from all over the world that they were in the region to also witness the faithful and powerful testimony of the ELCJHL Christians and to share the people’s cry.
Hanson referred to US theologian Dr Cynthia Moe-Lobeda in her book Public Church for the Life of the World, and her critical questions therein about discerning God. He called the LWF Council members to a new “Christian discernment” that would make it possible to perceive and describe the world in a new way. This was particularly necessary where dominant forces distort historical realities by describing them falsely.
LWF president Bishop Mark S. Hanson, left, spoke at a brief press conference following his address to the LWF Council. With him is Karin Achtelstetter, LWF deputy general secretary and head of the LWF Office of Communication Services. © LWF/J.Brooks |
He expressed hope that participation in this year’s meeting should enable those taking part to start re-describing the reality of suffering in the Middle East. This would make it possible to understand more clearly the complexity of problems involved and “the imperative for an independent, viable Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace with a secure Israeli state,” he said.
The LWF president also referred to a suggestion made by the president of the Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa/USA, Dr Duane Larson, that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican and Lutheran communions and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople convene a global, ecumenical council on the Christian interpretation of scripture. More...
Click here for the full text of the Address of the LWF President in PDF format.
LWF General Secretary Noko Proposes "New" LWF by 2010
Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, addressed
several topics, including ecumenism, during his report
to the LWF Council. |
The LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko has urged the Council to consider putting in place "a new LWF" by the year 2010.
By the time of the next Assembly, 20 years will have passed since the Eighth Assembly in Curitiba, Brazil, established the current structure, Noko told participants in this year's Council meeting. "The changes that have occurred since the 1990 Assembly require a new LWF," he said in the General Secretary's Report to the Council.
"The times in which we live are very ambiguous, and [therefore] self-definition becomes necessary," Noko said. He noted that since the LWF understands itself as both an instrument for Lutheran unity and for wider ecumenical movement, "participation in the reconfiguration discussion is not an option but an obligation." His report also contained other proposals especially in view of the ongoing discussion on the reconfiguration of the ecumenical movement, initiated by the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, spoke at
a press conference following his report to the LWF Council.
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Furthermore, Noko expressed concern about the use of excommunication in ways that raise serious theological and pastoral questions. He pointed out that this form of church discipline can only be used as the last resort with the aim to preserve the integrity of the church, its witness, and the faith of its members.
The LWF general secretary said the exercise of excommunication by church leadership in power struggles in order to marginalize persons who criticize or oppose them was "a grave misuse of a pastoral form of discipline, turning it into a weapon of self-preservation by those in power." Such practice not only flouts the very core of the gospel and breaks up the church's spiritual communion, it also diminishes the credibility of the church in the eyes of others. More...
Click here for the full text of the Report of the LWF General Secretary in PDF format.
LWF Closed 2004 with Balanced Geneva Coordination Budget
Peter Stoll, LWF treasurer, gave his report to the LWF
Council August 31. |
The LWF closed 2004 with a balanced Geneva coordination budget, LWF Treasurer Mr Peter Stoll told the LWF Council at its annual meeting.
In the Treasurer’s Report to the Council, Stoll emphasized, that apart from two exceptions, individual budgets of the departments as well as the program and project budgets were also balanced.
According to Stoll, the LWF’s financial situation was tight only twelve months ago, and “this is why we decided to seek ways to improve our financial sustainability.” The LWF Treasurer explained that the main reason for last year’s positive developments were the high exchange rate gains obtained via the higher market value of the Euro against the US dollar.
Stoll said budget projections for the years 2005 and 2006 did not indicate any deficits as yet. However, The Geneva coordination budget still reveals a “structural deficit” after 2006 if exchange rate gains are not taken into account.
USD 102 Million Total Income in 2004
From left: Superintendent Paul Weiland (Austria), and Rev. Dr Abraham Gnanamuthu Augustine Jeyakumar (India) in the plenary. © LWF/J.Brooks |
Stoll reported that the total income of the LWF was USD 102 million in 2004, compared with USD 97 million in 2003. Of this amount, USD 14.59 million covered the Geneva coordination budget costs, which primarily includes staff and operational costs. Some USD 87.4 million was allocated to LWF projects and program activities.
The LWF’s total expenditure in 2004 was USD 105 million compared with USD 100 million the previous year. Of this amount, USD 14.16 million was allocated to the Geneva coordination budget, whereas USD 90.28 million covered costs of LWF projects and programs. More...
Click here for the full text of the Report of the LWF Treasurer in PDF format.
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