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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 17.06.2005 |
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| Women Leaders Conference Is Significant for Lutheran Communion |
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Lutheran Women Bishops and Presidents Explore Models of Leadership
GENEVA, 17 June 2005 (LWI) – A conference of women bishops and presidents from among the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) member churches began here June 16, with an affirmation of the event’s historic significance for the whole Lutheran communion.
“This gathering should not be subjected to mere footnotes of history,” LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, said in welcoming the participants to the June 16-19 “Conference of Women Bishops, Presidents and Leaders with the Ministry of Oversight.” It was organized by the Women in Church and Society (WICAS) desk of the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD).
Noko noted that three women bishops only had participated in the 1994 LWF Church Leaders’ Consultation, also in Geneva, which had included representatives from all 114 LWF member churches at the time. Realizing the current conference has been “a monumental task” over several years, he said.
“Today, it is happening, and it is a privilege that we are here,” the general secretary told the gathering of church leaders from nine countries. They come from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Netherlands, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States of America, with one observer from Poland. They are deliberating on issues of common concern within the Lutheran constituency, including exploration of relevant leadership models to address the challenges they face in their contexts as leaders, and as women.
In his address titled “Value-Based Leadership, ” DMD Director, Rev. Dr Kjell Nordstokke facilitated a discussion focusing on leadership as professional training, and some possible leadership roles including ones that “inspire and empower.” “Women in leadership serve as excellent role models,” he stressed.
In relation to the LWF’s ecumenical engagement, representatives of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and World Council of Churches (WCC) were also present. They gave an update on current issues that the Geneva-based ecumenical organizations are concentrating on, and how these impact the life of the churches. Rev. Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth from the WARC Department of Partnership of Women and Men, spoke about the alliance’s work on gender justice among the world’s Reformed churches. Doug Chial, coordinator of the WCC 9th Assembly, outlined plans for the February 2006 WCC Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and how women’s issues would feature in the Assembly discussions.
The women shared experiences of how their churches had influenced their leadership. Many leaders within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) emerged from ELCA youth camp programs, according to Bishop April Ulring Larson of the La Crosse Area Synod; so leadership was developed at an early age.
But in Germany, according to Bishop Maria Jepsen of Hamburg, North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the age of ordination is somewhat advanced. Leadership is not learned early on as a precursor to a church career.
Bishop Christina Odenberg of the Church of Sweden’s Lund Diocese, said she considered the church to have failed in developing leadership skills among its youth.
But in South Africa, according to Moravian Church in South Africa President, Ms Angelene Swart, the church provides a strong venue for leadership development.
A recent WICAS analysis shows that 41 out of the 138 LWF member churches do not as yet ordain women for ministry in the church. Several reasons are cited, including: theological teachings and biblical literalism; church structures, policies and strategies; social and cultural impediments; and, fear of division in the church.
The conference participants include: Bishops Cynthia Halmarson (Canada); Maria Jepsen (Germany); Khunansori Basumatary (India); Caroline Krook and Christina Odenberg, and assistant bishop Christina Berglund (Sweden); April Ulring Larson, Marie Jerge, Andrea DeGroot Nesdahl and Wilma Kucharek (USA). Presidents are Rev. Bekure Daba Bultum (Ethiopia); Rev. Ilona Fritz (Netherlands); and Ms Angelene Swart (South Africa). Ms Aleksandra Blachut-Kowalczyk from Poland was invited as an observer from Central Eastern Europe, where there is no woman bishop or president. (647 words)
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