LWF Pays Scheduled Accompaniment Visit to EECMY

“Expression of the Vitality of Communion Relationships in the LWF”

(LWI) – On 26 April 2014, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, accompanied by Bishop Dr P. Filibus Musa, the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, met with the Executive Council of the Ethiopian Evangelical Lutheran Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia.

The visit with the EECMY is the second in a series of three following a decision by the LWF Council in June 2013. The Council asked the LWF Communion Office to offer an accompaniment process to the three LWF member churches that are affected by a rupture of relations over the issues of family, marriage and sexuality.  

“We know this from daily life: in the context of disagreement among family members the role and attitude of the larger family acquires critical importance,” said Rev. Junge. “Our visit of accompaniment to the EECMY is an expression of the vitality of communion relationships in the LWF. They are by nature attentive and responsive, as well as supportive and transformative.”

In February, the LWF visited the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. An accompaniment visit has also been scheduled with the Church of Sweden in the course of the coming month. The LWF Communion Office will offer an account of the accompaniment process to the LWF Council in June this year.