16.07.2003
Canadian Lutheran Pastor Underlines Diversity, Discernment and Diaconia as Standards of the Church
The Healing of the Church is about Justice and Inclusion, Theologian David Pfrimmer Tells LWF Youth Pre-AssemblyGUELPH, Canada/GENEVA, 16 July 2003 (LWI) – Canadian theologian Dr David Pfrimmer has urged Lutheran churches to welcome and promote diversity, make effort to discern the “signs of the times” and to involve themselves even more in diaconia, in social ministry to their neighbors.
A watchful, awake and open church must be a “3-D church,” - one that makes diversity, discernment and diaconia its standards, pastor Pfrimmer emphasized in his keynote speech titled “For the Healing of the Church - Remembering Who We Are,” at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Pre-Assembly Youth Conference, taking place July 12-18 in Guelph, Canada.
Healing the church has to do with being changed by God and not by the world, said Pfrimmer, director of the Lutheran Office for Public Policy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). It also means that Lutherans must remember and rediscover anew who they are, he continued; it is this that will make them able, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to bring healing and change to the world which God so loves. The theme of healing the church is about justice and inclusion, he noted.
To say yes to diversity and to promote it, we must become aware of our own roots, according to Pfrimmer; confrontations with many different cultures, various confessions and people of differing origins help to deepen our self-understanding as well as our understanding of others. He pointed out that ecumenical and inter religious dialogues have helped the Lutheran church in Canada to strengthen its own theology and also contributed to a powerful common witness to the unity of the church.
With regard to discerning the signs of the times, he emphasized that what one sees always depends on one’s personal views; therefore it is urgently necessary for Christians to take their stand in those places where human beings are suffering, where the creation is suffering. Seeing the world up close compels us to ask the difficult questions, he said; discernment means asking about justice in our world, about how peace can be created. Pfrimmer sees discernment as a process by which people diagnose what is happening and begin to understand the dynamics of the world.
As the central element of what it means to be Christian and what it means to be Church, Pfrimmer named diaconia, as unconditional ministry to one’s neighbor. Fundamentally, he said, diaconia is about introducing an ethic of inclusion; it inevitably means working for social change and it means struggling for justice. He pointed out that getting involved in diaconia puts people into confrontation with situations and encounters with people where the church can hear again the Gospel. Diaconia, for Pfrimmer, recognizes a “preferential attentiveness” the church must give to marginalized people; the Gospel, he said, is most often visible at the margins of society.
About 90 youth delegates and stewards from 54 countries are taking part in the Youth Pre-Assembly Conference. It is the last of seven consultations in preparation for the Tenth LWF Assembly, which have been studying the themes and content of the July 21-31 Assembly from the viewpoints of the different regions and from the perspective of women and youth. “For the Healing of the World” is the theme of the Assembly, being hosted by the ELCIC.
The full text of Rev. Dr. David Pfrimmer’s speech is available in English on the Assembly Web site at http://www.lwf-assembly.org/lwfimages/Healing_of_the_Church_Pfrimmer.pdf
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