Unity as a prophetic witness
More than 400 delegates, advisors, stewards, youth, staff, and distinguished guests take part in the 2018 General Assembly and related events. Photo: CEC/ Mladen Trkulja
LWF General Secretary’s greeting to CEC General Assembly
(LWI) - “The Lutheran World Federation gives thanks for good contacts and cooperation with the Conference of European Churches and looks forward to discern together how to continue working jointly as an expression of the one ecumenical movement,” Rev Dr Martin Junge, General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), wrote in a greeting to the General Assembly of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), which took place 31 May to 6 June in Novi Sad, Serbia.
In his greeting, the LWF general secretary linked the theme of the CEC General Assembly “You shall be my witnesses” to the season of Pentecost. “The biblical story of Pentecost reminds us, that whenever the community of those following the Lord gathers, even if with fear and unresolved questions, God finds a way to meet them, to empower and liberate them, to send them out into the public to live out the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ by words and deed,” Junge wrote.
I want to encourage us to think of unity as a prophetic witness that churches can offer in today’s world, which is so much marked and drawn into a dynamic of fragmentation, conflict and withdrawal. There is another world in God’s mind, one that came into our world in Christ Jesus – and that is the one we are called to be witnesses of.
The LWF general secretary emphasized mission as a “fundamental calling of the church”, and emphasized the “beauty and the power” a joint witness of many churches would create. “I want to encourage us to think of unity as a prophetic witness that churches can offer in today’s world, which is so much marked and drawn into a dynamic of fragmentation, conflict and withdrawal. There is another world in God’s mind, one that came into our world in Christ Jesus – and that is the one we are called to be witnesses of,” he wrote.
On behalf of the Lutheran communion, the LWF general secretary offered prayers for guidance and blessings during the encounter of Christians from different confessions in Europe. “We trust in God’s Spirit visiting your gathering and empowering you all to continue witnessing to the Triune God,” the letter concluded.
