Advocacy

German original. English translation to follow shortly.

Standing Up with the Marginalized amid Increasing Conflicts

LWI Council Press Release No. 20/2011 | GENEVA, 15 June 2011 (LWI) – The increasing conflicts within and between the nations was one of the topics raised by The Lutheran World Foundation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, at the closing press conference of the 9-14 June LWF Council meeting in Geneva.

Region Pledges to Help Shape Renewed LWF

GENEVA, 16 May 2011 (LWI) – The final message of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Africa Lutheran Church Leadership Consultation (ALCLC) “Toward Re-visioning LWF Africa Regional Expression for a Holistic Mission” is now available on the LWF Web site.

Seeking Alliances with Other Stakeholders Is a Crucial Strategy

OSLO, Norway/GENEVA, 24 October 2008 (LWI) – Faith-based organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and their leaders must not relent on their unequivocal responsibility to agitate for multilateral solutions that ensure fair and just lending and borrowing practices globally. LWF President Bishop Mark S. Hanson made these remarks in the context of the international consultation on illegitimate debt, held 21-23 October, in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

“We must recognize the complexity of issues without allowing their complexity to immobilize us. We must not lose our voice,” said Hanson, relating the current global financial crisis to the LWF co-organized International Symposium on Illegitimate Debt.

Hanson is presiding bishop of the 4.7-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The over 60 representatives of church bodies, governments, international and regional financial institutions, United Nations organizations and civil society movement sought to jointly formulate practical approaches for further political and legal action on illegitimate debt.

Speaking to Lutheran World Information (LWI), Hanson underlined the mandate of the 2003 LWF Tenth Assembly, urging the LWF to prioritize illegitimate debt cancellation through actions that move beyond the economic viewpoint, and integrate instead a broader approach based on moral, ethical and legal obligations. “We [church leaders] must always ask the questions: ‘At whose expense are profits being made? ‘What will be the long-term impact for people who live in poverty?’ And, we must hold governments accountable,” he said.

Seeking alliances with other stakeholders remains an important LWF strategy, as the global Lutheran communion on its own would not have the expertise to move to public discourse crucial issues such as the debt crisis. “This symposium is our ability to convince others-lawyers, economists and policy makers-that solutions to the illegitimate debt crisis will depend on our capacity to push together for concrete steps,” said Hanson.

Exemplary Initiatives

He noted the model to have one LWF region take up leadership of an issue, as is the case with Latin American region on the debt program, helps the other LWF regions to contextualize the implications for their own contexts.

Hanson moderated a panel dialogue, 22 October, during which the Norwegian Minister for Environment and Development Mr Erik Solheim and Ecuador’s Attorney General Mr Washington Pesantez Muñoz presented their respective governments’ initiatives on sovereign debt, hailed at the symposium as successful role models, which should also be built into the framework of global policies through organizations such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and international financial institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Solheim elaborated Norway’s decision in 2006 to cancel unilaterally the outstanding debt of NOK 520 million (USD 72 million) owed by Ecuador, Egypt, Jamaica, Peru and Sierra Leone as a result of the 1976-1980 Norwegian Ship Export campaign involving 156 vessels and equipment. Pesantez explained further the process of the national Commission for the Complete Auditing of Public Debt (Comisión para la Auditoria Integral del Crédito Público – CAIC), set up in 2007 to look into the legality and legitimacy of the country’s external debt between 1976 and 2006.

Responding to comments from the floor, Solheim emphasized any loan acquisition process as fundamentally a two-way process entailing responsibility on the part of the lender and borrower. He challenged civil society in other countries to put pressure on their governments to ensure broader action on foreign debt cancellation. While it might be difficult to give a clear definition of illegitimate debt, it was obvious urgent action was needed especially in cases whereby the debtor could not honor obligations as a result of financial or political crises with serious consequences for the country’s people, he said.

Pesantez explained that although CAIC’s report had not been officially released, he expected its findings on irregular re-negotiation of credits and government failure to protect the rights of its citizens, would encourage other countries to carry out similar audits. “We are not questioning our obligation to repay debt, we are seeking solidarity” in determining the legitimacy, transparency and efficiency of indebtedness, he emphasized. (686 words)

Church Representatives Express Appreciation for Focus on Environmental Issues

ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 28 June 2008 (LWI) – Participants in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council expressed appreciation for environmental concern issues presented in the LWF President’s address. Questions and remarks during the report’s plenary discussion revolved around how the LWF member churches might turn these concerns into action.

The theme of the 25-30 June Council meeting is “Melting Snow on Mount Kilimanjaro: A Witness of a Suffering Creation.” In his address on 25 June, LWF President Bishop Mark S. Hanson called on member churches to advocate for changes in policy and practice, saying that “hope compels us to be disciplined, courageous, faithful stewards of the whole creation.” Hanson is the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

It is important for the church “to bring out the issues of hope” when dealing with topics such as the environment, said Council member Archbishop Anders Wejryd, Church of Sweden. “There is an enormous help in what is given to us as Christians from the gospel,” he noted saying Christians should pay attention to scientific discussions on the environment.

Hanson’s response affirmed the role of faith in freeing Christians to pursue understanding and conversation between religion and science.

Advocacy

Words must be converted into political action, said Rev. Atle Sommerfeldt, a consultant, representing Norwegian Church Aid. Political agendas will frame environmental matters for the future, he said, and noted the next five years would be decisive.

Council member Rev. Iteffa Gobena, Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, said it was important to include everyone in the response to environmental concerns. He asked how understandable language could be used so that all people work together on climate change.

The LWF president’s address did not dwell on the issue of companies whose policies and actions negatively impact the environment, a concern that was raised by Council member Doris Stephen Kitutu, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

“How do we organize ourselves and others to confront systems of power?” Hanson said in response. “Whether they are political systems of power, corporate systems of power, I think that’s a key strategic question that we must face.”

The president’s address should have cited more examples of environmental response in Eastern Europe, said Bishop Dr Christoph Klein, Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Romania. The LWF Vice-President for Central Eastern Europe pointed out that this was a major topic for delegates to the 2007 Third European Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu, Romania.

Press Conference

At a press conference following his address and its discussions in plenary, Hanson said the LWF could help create a global movement to limit or halt environmental degradation, but it was necessary that such response include many partners and large numbers of people to be effective.

He said he was hopeful that during the Council meeting, members would adopt a resolution calling for specific action by LWF’s members. But he was cautious about how the communion could influence environmental concerns.

“I am absolutely convinced that even with 68 million members, the LWF alone cannot turn around global warming and stop the melting snows on Kilimanjaro,” said Hanson. “I do believe that we can be a force, joining with others, to create a movement in the world that has the capacity to bring to an end the environmental crisis that is causing the snows to melt (and) the rivers to dry up,” he explained.

Food Crisis

He pointed out that the current food crisis was “interrelated” with higher fuel prices and climate change, and said he had not anticipated how quickly a food crisis would develop with these factors. “I think in some sense it caught us off guard, that we thought we were making progress in reducing hunger in the world-and in fact, we were. But suddenly, there is a radical upsurge in the reality of hunger which is absolutely tied to the crisis around fuel, which is tied to the crisis around the climate and environment,” he said.

Environmental concerns must include more than climate change, Hanson said, citing logging of forest land, deforestation, and overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. He reiterated his appeal to LWF member churches “to act responsibly, courageously and creatively.”

Responding to a question on concrete actions that could be taken, the LWF president said response was possible from an individual level as Christians, as local congregations, and as church bodies at national level. “We are not powerless,” he emphasized, and pointed out that LWF members could engage in advocacy for the environment by asking elected officials to mandate emissions controls and global treaties. He criticized the government the United States’ government for its “arrogance” in refusing to sign global environmental treaties.

Human Sexuality

On another subject, Hanson was asked about homosexuality and whether the LWF was addressing the topic in a way that did not stifle discussion. He referred to the March 2007 LWF Council meeting in Lund, Sweden, and explained that the LWF governing body had received the report of the LWF Task Force on Marriage, Family and Human Sexuality. He said the Council asked LWF member churches to discuss the topics with awareness that such conversations could have an impact on relationships with people in other contexts.

“I do not think right now it is helpful for the LWF as a communion to take a stance on issues that are being discussed in the member churches discussed in the context of Scripture, discussed in the context of our Lutheran confessions and theology, [and] discussed in the contexts of our varied contexts around marriage, family and human sexuality,” he said.

Hanson added that LWF member churches were going to remain in conversation about human sexuality “for the sake of our witness in the world and our witness to that which is core to our faith, and that is the Good News of Jesus Christ.” (986 words)

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There are around 170 participants in 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.