wfn.org | LWI News in Brief No. 04/2008 & Special edition of LWI No. 05/2008

["LWFNews" <LWFNews@lutheranworld.org>]

>LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
>LWI News online:
>http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

- Bethlehem Lutheran Pastor and Israeli Women's Group to Receive
International Peace Prize
- Janssen Elected New Bishop in Oldenburg, Germany

>- 2008 LWF Directory Online

- LWI No.05/2008 - Special Edition on Climate Change

Bethlehem Lutheran Pastor and Israeli Women's Group to Receive
International Peace Prize 

The 2008 international Aachen Peace Prize will be awarded to
Palestinian Lutheran pastor Mitri Raheb, and to MachsonWatch, an
Israeli women’s human rights group. The Aachen Peace Prize
association is honoring the pastor of Bethlehem’s Christmas
Church and the women of MachsonWatch for their support of the
peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians on both sides
of the separation wall put up by Israel. The national Aachen
Peace Prize will go to Frankfurt political scientist Prof.
Andreas Buro for his leadership role in the German peace
movement.

Established in 1988 in Germany, the Aachen Peace Prize is
awarded to people who have been active in grassroots peace and in
promoting understanding across national divides. Prize winners
receive a symbolic sum of EUR 1,000 each at award ceremonies on 1
September, which is marked as Anti-War Day in Germany.

According to the Aachen Peace Prize association, Mitri Raheb, as
a Christian, views a love of one's enemy to be inseparable from
his work toward peaceful coexistence. "Loving one's enemies means
regarding them, despite all conflict, to be God's creatures with
a right to life, forgiveness, and love, not however with a right
to do injustice," the organization stated, quoting the
Palestinian theologian. 

In addition to his pastoral work, Raheb and his congregation
have set up a wide range of schools, places of employment, and
tourist centers for international guests. Since 1995 the Lutheran
pastor has also served as director of the International Center of
Bethlehem, which he founded.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
(ELCJHL), which includes Bethlehem's Lutheran congregation, has
been a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) since 1974,
and today comprises 3,000 members in six congregations in
Jerusalem, the Palestinian Territories (Bethlehem, Beit Sahour,
Beit Jala, and Ramallah), and in Amman, Jordan.

MachsomWatch was founded in 2001 by three Israeli women to work
against the human rights violations suffered by Palestinians at
Israeli army checkpoints in the occupied territories. The women
of MachsomWatch work to document the actions of the Israeli
military at 30 of the roughly 580 checkpoints and roadblocks in
the West Bank, at which they strive to boost mutual understanding
and prevent violent conflict from arising. The volunteer
organization currently has some 450 active members. (387 words)

>*       *       *

Janssen Elected New Bishop in Oldenburg, Germany

Rev. Jan Janssen, 45, has been elected as the new bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg, Germany. The synod
elected Janssen in the second round of voting on 23 May in
Rastede, Lower Saxony. He will be installed on 29 September in
Oldenburg’s Lamberti Church, and will succeed Bishop Peter Krug
who will be retiring.

Bishop-elect Janssen thanked the synod for its support,
announcing that he would "accept the election with his whole
heart" and would "take on the task with serene self-confidence
and trust in God." He said he would first reacquaint himself with
the church members, considering particularly those who were
marginalized. 

Jan Janssen was born in Bad Bevensen and has been a pastor of
the German Protestant Kirchentag, based in Fulda, since 2002. He
has been head of the worship program for the Kirchentag,
Germany's largest meeting of Protestant laity, with an average of
100,000 participants. 

Janssen studied theology in Muenster and Goettingen (Germany)
and in Bern, Switzerland. He served as an intern pastor in
Oldenburg from 1992 to 1994, and as a pastor in Wiefelstede near
Oldenburg for two years. He subsequently managed the project team
for the Leipzig Kirchentag in 1996 and 1997, after which he was
pastor of the Christus- und Garnisonkirche in Wilhelmshaven,
where he was also in charge of the "Church by the Sea" as part of
Expo 2000.

>Janssen is married, with three children.

With some 463,000 members, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Oldenburg has been a member of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) since 1957. (264 words)

>*       *       *

>2008 LWF Directory Online

The 2008 edition of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Directory is available online in PDF version on the
password-protected LWF MaRS Web site. Registered users can
download and print out this version, which is updated regularly.

The Directory includes information about the Federation's 140
member churches, recognized churches, council, congregations, and
national committees, as well as on international and regional
Lutheran bodies, and other related contacts.

Also listed are the LWF's governing bodies: the LWF Council and
its seven Program and two Standing Committees; the 11th Assembly
Planning Committee; Project Committee; Standing Committee for
World Service; as well as the LWF Foundation - Endowment Fund.
Also included is information on the LWF Secretariat in Geneva and
its departments, offices, and staff, and on the Strasbourg
(France)-based Lutheran Foundation for Interconfessional
Research, Institute for Ecumenical Research. An organigram
illustrates the organizational structure.

The last section of the Directory provides a glossary of member
church, recognized church, council, and congregation names in
their local and the LWF's four official languages-English,
German, French and Spanish, also available on the LWF Web site
at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/Directory/Welcome-EN.html 

The data is based on information received within the LWF
secretariat in Geneva, and according to an annual survey of those
listed. (207 words)

For further details please contact the LWF Office for
Communication Services, Ms Colette Muanda at:
cmu@lutheranworld.org 

>*       *       *

LWI No. 05/2008  has been produced as a special edition,
focusing on climate change. It is titled "Climate Change - Facing
Our Vulnerability" and includes the annual LWF Sunday publication
under the title "Climate Change - Vulnerability, Lament and
Promise".

LWI readers will be informed once the PDF version of the
full-color edition is posted on the LWF Web site . 

For further information, please write to the editor at:
pmu@lutheranworld.org 

>*       *       *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of over 68.3 million. The LWF acts
on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such
as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF’s information
service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not
represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various
units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation
(LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with
acknowledgment.] 

>LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
>P. O. Box 2100CH-1211 
>Geneva 2 Switzerland

>Tel.: +41/22-791 63 69 
>Fax: +41/22-791 66 30
>Editor’s E-Mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org