wfn.org | LWF Council meets in Bratislava, Slovak Republic

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Focus on host -- the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in
Slovakia

GENEVA, 17 June 1999 (lwi)   The Evangelical Church of the Augusburg
Confession in Slovakia (ECAV) will host the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) Council meeting in the capital Bratislava from 22 to 29 June 1999.

The theme of this year's meeting at the Hotel Forum is "The Gospel
Transforming Cultures". According to the Council agenda, the Opening
Eucharist in the evening of 21 June will be celebrated in the "Mal
kostol", the small church in the town center. Some of the ,daily morning
devotions will be held in the same church.

According to the church's Evangelical Information Center, ECAV, with
329,117 members and 329 congregations is the second largest church ¾
after the Roman Catholic Church ¾ in the Slovak Republic. The church's
history dates back to the first half of 16th century, when the
Reformation penetrated Slovakia. Currently headed by Bishop Julius Filo,
it is a founding member of the LWF, the Conference of European Churches
(CEC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), as well as of the
Ecumenical Council of Churches in Slovakia.

The ECAV is a signatory of the Leunberg Agreement which means that
members of Reformed churches can mutually participate in the Eucharist
and in the exchange of preachers. The church has partnerships with the
following churches outside Slovakia:  the Evangelical Church in
Wurttemberg and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Thuringia, both in
Germany, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), particularly
its Slovak Zion Synod and the Swedish church   Harnosand Diocese.

The 1999 LWF Council host also maintains lively contacts with Slovak
evangelicals abroad, especially the Slovak Evangelical Church of the
Augsburg Confession in Yugoslavia, Slovak Evangelical Church of the A.C.
district in Romania, Congregation of the Slovak Evangelical Church of
the A.C. in Prague, Czech Republic and the Congregation of Christ the
Lord of the Slovak Evangelical Church of the A.C. in Lavertone -
Melbourne, Australia. Currently, ECAV is reviving work with Slovak
evangelicals in Hungary and two pastors from Slovakia are serving in
Canada.

Its evangelical diakonia presently administers retirement homes, a home
for children , school for the deaf and blind children and an education
center in this nation with some 5.3 million people.

The "Tranoscius" publishing house, according to the Evangelical
Information Center, has a century-old tradition publishing not only
religious but also secular literature "Tranoscius" also publishes the
weekly Evanjelick  posol spod Tatier (Evangelical Messenger from the
Tatras) the monthly Cirkevne listy (Church Letters) and the quarterly
Tvorba T.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/