06.07.2005
North Elbian Lutheran Church Invites Partner Churches to Discuss Structural Reform
People No Longer Dare to Talk about their Faith and PrayBREKLUM, Germany/GENEVA, 6 July 2005 (LWI) - The North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church has included its international partner churches in its planned structural reform for the first time. Thirty delegates from the partner churches were invited to Breklum for a joint consultation.
They comprised bishops and pastors from the Lutheran churches in Brazil, India, Kenya, Lithuania, Latvia, Papua New Guinea, the Russian Federation, and Tanzania. The church invited them to give their views on financial cutbacks, and make recommendations.
Bishop Dr Wesley Kigasung from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea said they were amazed at the beautiful churches and variety of church life in North Elbia, but surprised that people no longer dared to talk about their faith and pray.
It looks as though the church is seeking to solve its "faith problem" through administrative measures, and that structures are important but not the actual goal of the church, Bishop Dr Israel-Peter Mwakyolile from Tanzania said. North Elbia needed spiritual renewal, not just structural reform, he said.
The guests spent one week in Hamburg, Germany, and in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, visiting congregations and church institutions. They later met at the Christian Jensen College in Breklum to compare notes. Forty representatives from the church, the synod, church government, church institutions and districts, and congregations, were also present.
Synod Deputy President Cynthia Lies pointed out that in a critical time of change the consultation had shown [the church] what God's "one" church in the world really meant: that we mutually helped each other as equal partners to find God's truth and vision for the church.
At a reception hosted by the North Elbian church ending the consultation, the church's bishops thanked their partners for the friendly cooperation and confidence they had brought with them. Bishop Dr Hans Christian Knuth, chairperson of the North Elbian church administration expressed gratitude for the way in which the partners' perceptions had reflected back onto the church, which was keen to try them out in practice.
The visiting partners praised the invitation to the consultation as an expression of "ecumenical spirit" on the part of North Elbia. In listening to our advice, that of a partner church, the North Elbian church revealed itself to be a reliable partner, Brazilian pastor Carlos Hoch noted. He said the partners were privileged to have been able to look behind the scenes. The church had shown its vulnerability and opened its doors wide, for the first time during their over 100 years of shared history, marking the beginning of a church partnership on an equal footing, he said.
The greatest challenge for the church, according to the partners, was that of accommodating the increasing longing of people for faith and pastoral care. The openness of the North Elbian church was a great treasure; that is what mattered in the long run, summarized Santa Cilevica, spokesperson for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia.
The results of the consultation were sent to the North Elbian congregations and church organizations as an open letter. One suggestion from the partners was a campaign for "spiritual literacy," which would assist people to pray, read the Bible, praise God, heal, meditate and discover tranquillity.
The North Elbian church is currently confronted with the greatest financial crisis in its history. Since 1992 its budget has fallen by 30 percent, from EUR 380 million to EUR 270 million for 2005. To economize, the North Elbian church has initiated a comprehensive structural reform.
According to a synod decision, in future there will be 12 church districts only, instead of the current 27. Consideration is also being given to reducing the number of bishops' jurisdictions from three to one. Economy measures include the merging of church institutions and congregations as well as the elimination of some pastoral and staff positions. In a new development, churches in Hamburg have been officially put out of use. Even the renowned Protestant Academy recently had to close for financial reasons. (680 words)
(Reported by Doreen Gliemann, public relations office of the North Elbian Centre for World Mission and Church World Service, and Rev. Michael Stahl, public relations office of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church.)
The open letter to the North Elbian congregations and church institutions can be found at: www.nmz-mission.de.
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