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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 02.07.2008 |
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| General Secretary Noko Says Council Meeting Was Successful |
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LWF Treasurer Stoll Underlines Poverty Is a Global Issue
ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 1 July 2008 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, expressed satisfaction about the outcome of the 25-30 June LWF Council meeting in Arusha, Tanzania.
“I am satisfied that we could do so much within such a short time,” Noko told journalists at a closing press conference.
The governing body met under the theme, “Melting Snow on Mount Kilimanjaro - A Witness of Suffering Creation.” The Council adopted recommendations which are seen as key to the future work of the Lutheran communion. These included the global discussion on climate change, food crisis, Zimbabwe and Israel and Palestine. It also accepted, among others, recommendations on human trafficking, genocide and travel restrictions for persons living with HIV.
“We have taken decision as the Lutheran World Federation to act toward emissions, also towards our travels, and in our own offices,” Noko said, responding to a journalist’s question.
“We have realized that there are different schools of thought on changing weather patterns. Beyond human behavior, there are other patterns. We have also identified that human behavior does contribute to the difficulties that we find ourselves in concerning climate change,” explained Noko.
Asked what he considered as unique about the Council meeting in Arusha, he said, “The uniqueness is that we met on the slopes Mt Kilimanjaro. This is the place (Marangu) where all the African Lutherans met together for the first time in 1955,” explained Noko. “That time there were no African Lutheran churches, only mission organizations. This meeting connects us with that one,” he added.
LWF Treasurer Mr Peter Stoll concurred with the general secretary about the Council’s achievements. “We as a Council have never done so many things and recommendations in such a short time. So that speaks for the hospitality of the host church,” he said.
At the closing press conference, Stoll said there were practical things the LWF projects were undertaking, that dealt with poverty and its impacts. “What you have heard here from the Council is about fighting the structures [that create] poverty, [why there is] poverty, and how we try to face this question also at a political level,” he said.
Turning to the theme “Give Us Today Our Daily Bread,” for the July 2010 LWF 11th Assembly in Stuttgart, Germany, the LWF Treasurer pointed out that poverty was a global phenomenon.
“You may think Germany is a rich country, compared to Tanzania; and you are totally right, it is rich. But in the last years, the social situation in Germany has changed dramatically,” said Stoll.
“Through the influence of global trends, we now have a new kind poverty,” he said. He noted that during the Assembly Planning Committee meeting in Stuttgart, the committee members visited a church which provides a free meal to poor people who cannot afford it in winter time.
The LWF Treasurer said poverty was “not only found in the global South, but also in the global North, and almost because of equal reasons. That is why we are going to deal with the issue in our own churches, and also at the global level together with more strength, as a communion.” (563 words)
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Around 170 participants attended this year’s Council meeting including church leaders, officials from LWF partner organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff and accredited media.
The Council is the LWF’s governing body meeting between Assemblies held every six years. The current Council was appointed at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It comprises the President, Treasurer and 48 persons elected by the Assembly. Other members include advisors, lay and ordained persons, representing the different LWF regions.
LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
Tel.: +41/22-791 63 69
Fax: +41/22-791 66 30
Editor’s E-Mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
Media contact in Arusha: +255 782 321 852
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