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Continue Common Journey, Ecumenical Leaders Tell LWF

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Rev. Dr Olav Fzkse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches © LWF/H. Putsman Penet

Call for Dialogue with Renewed Energy

LWI Council Press Release No. 16/2011 | GENEVA, 14 June 2011 (LWI) – Lutherans have been praised for their commitment to the ecumenical movement in greetings brought to The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, from 9 to 14 June.

Speaking to church delegates attending the first full annual session of the LWF governing body appointed at the July 2010 Eleventh Assembly, representatives of international church organizations encouraged the LWF to continue to deepen dialogue and common witness with them.

“The Lutheran World Federation is a valued expression of communion in the life of the global church,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“The growth in communion among Lutheran churches over the past decades is a blessing to the wider ecumenical fellowship, helping to strengthen the relationship of Lutheran churches one to another and to deepen their relationship in Christ,” the WCC leader said.

Tveit noted that Christian World Communions such as the LWF not only played a significant role in preserving the Reformation, but also helped deepen the spiritual bonds the different churches share in Christ.

“This ‘thickness’ of relationship is a tremendous gift to the fellowship of WCC member churches, offering a model growing in Eucharist fellowship and visible unity in Christ,” Tveit added.

“As we embark on a second century of the modern ecumenical movement, the call to unity in Christ is as urgent as ever and we must find ways to renew our common vision,” Tveit said.

Roman Catholics

Msgr Dr Matthias Türk, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity © LWF/H. Putsman Penet

The pledge by the LWF governing body to give greater priority to the LWF’s theological foundation strengthened the Christian witness in the world, said Monsignor Dr Matthias Türk, representing the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU).

Referring to the present dialogue phase of the Lutheran – Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and preparation for a common statement on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, Türk wondered what Lutherans and Catholics could say together today about the Reformation. “What can they learn from one another? What public Protestant-Catholic signs of reconciliation could be enacted, relating to our common history of guilt?” he asked.

God was calling Lutherans and Roman Catholics to dialogue with new energy, said the PCPCU representative. “We must not cease to engage with the fact that more binds us together in the depths than separates us on the surface. I am convinced God wants us to set out with even greater determination on the path of unity.”

Mennonites

Rev. Dr Larry Miller, Mennonite World Conference © LWF/H. Putsman Penet

Outgoing general secretary of the Mennonite World Conference Rev. Dr Larry Miller said that Mennonites had “fallen in love” with Lutherans over the past two years as the LWF prepared for the July 2010 action of asking Mennonites’ forgiveness for persecution against their Anabaptist forebears. “You have moved our hearts and humbled our spirits.”

Miller said Mennonites anticipated “more moments of divine surprise and revelation with you” in the trilateral conversation that has brought them together with Lutherans and Roman Catholics to examine diverse views of baptism.

Reformed Churches

Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi, World Communion of Reformed Churches © LWF/H. Putsman Penet

Rev. Dr Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), called the discernment process leading to the Council’s adoption of the LWF Strategy 2012-2017 “inspirational.”

“We pray that you will see ways in which that common journey intersects with the journeys of others in the ecumenical movement. We in the Reformed family are confident that you see that common journey as including Reformed and Lutheran journeying together as well,” Nyomi said.

Pentecostals

Dr Jean-Daniel Plüss, Lutheran-Pentecostal Study Group © LWF/H. Putsman Penet

Dr Jean-Daniel Plüss, co-chairperson of the Lutheran-Pentecostal Study Group, said that Lutherans and Pentecostals belonged together under God’s love. “We may have our wounded histories that we carry in our memories as well as the blessed accomplishments that we claim. But, most of all, we as God’s children, are part of the Body of Christ and as such we are awakened, bonded together and sustained by God’s love.”

Plüss called for dialogue, common worship and witness in the world between Lutherans and Pentecostals. “In this sense we can be confident and engage together in the motto of this Council meeting, namely to ‘Discern Our Common Journey,’” he added. (696 words)

Council 2011 News | Photos | Documents

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