wfn.org | North Elbian Lutheran Church Invites Partner Churches to

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

North Elbian Lutheran Church Invites Partner Churches to Discuss
Structural Reform
People No Longer Dare to Talk about their Faith and Pray

BREKLUM, Germany/GENEVA, 6 July 2005 (LWI) - The North Elbian
Evangelical Lutheran Church has included its international partner
churches in its planned structural reform for the first time. Thirty
delegates from the partner churches were invited to Breklum for a joint
consultation. 

They comprised bishops and pastors from the Lutheran churches in
Brazil, India, Kenya, Lithuania, Latvia, Papua New Guinea, the Russian
Federation, and Tanzania. The church invited them to give their views on
financial cutbacks, and make recommendations.

Bishop Dr Wesley Kigasung from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua
New Guinea said they were amazed at the beautiful churches and variety
of church life in North Elbia, but surprised that people no longer dared
to talk about their faith and pray.

It looks as though the church is seeking to solve its "faith problem"
through administrative measures, and that structures are important but
not the actual goal of the church, Bishop Dr Israel-Peter Mwakyolile
from Tanzania said. North Elbia needed spiritual renewal, not just
structural reform, he said.

The guests spent one week in Hamburg, Germany, and in the federal state
of Schleswig-Holstein, visiting congregations and church institutions.
They later met at the Christian Jensen College in Breklum to compare
notes. Forty representatives from the church, the synod, church
government, church institutions and districts, and congregations, were
also present.

Synod Deputy President Cynthia Lies pointed out that in a critical time
of change the consultation had shown [the church] what God's "one"
church in the world really meant: that we mutually helped each other as
equal partners to find God's truth and vision for the church. 

At a reception hosted by the North Elbian church ending the
consultation, the church's bishops thanked their partners for the
friendly cooperation and confidence they had brought with them. Bishop
Dr Hans Christian Knuth, chairperson of the North Elbian church
administration expressed gratitude for the way in which the partners'
perceptions had reflected back onto the church, which was keen to try
them out in practice.

The visiting partners praised the invitation to the consultation as an
expression of "ecumenical spirit" on the part of North Elbia. In
listening to our advice, that of a partner church, the North Elbian
church revealed itself to be a reliable partner, Brazilian pastor Carlos
Hoch noted. He said the partners were privileged to have been able to
look behind the scenes. The church had shown its vulnerability and
opened its doors wide, for the first time during their over 100 years of
shared history, marking the beginning of a church partnership on an
equal footing, he said.
The greatest challenge for the church, according to the partners, was
that of accommodating the increasing longing of people for faith and
pastoral care. The openness of the North Elbian church was a great
treasure; that is what mattered in the long run, summarized Santa
Cilevica, spokesperson for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia.

The results of the consultation were sent to the North Elbian
congregations and church organizations as an open letter. One suggestion
from the partners was a campaign for "spiritual literacy," which would
assist people to pray, read the Bible, praise God, heal, meditate and
discover tranquillity.

The North Elbian church is currently confronted with the greatest
financial crisis in its history. Since 1992 its budget has fallen by 30
percent, from EUR 380 million to EUR 270 million for 2005. To economize,
the North Elbian church has initiated a comprehensive structural reform.

According to a synod decision, in future there will be 12 church
districts only, instead of the current 27. Consideration is also being
given to reducing the number of bishops' jurisdictions from three to
one. Economy measures include the merging of church institutions and
congregations as well as the elimination of some pastoral and staff
positions. In a new development, churches in Hamburg have been
officially put out of use. Even the renowned Protestant Academy recently
had to close for financial reasons. (680 words)

(Reported by Rev. Michael Stahl, public relations office of the North
Elbian Center for World Mission and Church World Service.)

The open letter to the North Elbian congregations and church
institutions can be found at: www.nmz-mission.de.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in
areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations,
theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the
various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is
located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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