The working group on the self-understanding of the Lutheran communion held its first meeting from 18 to 21 March at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, near Geneva, Switzerland.
The group was established following a decision of the LWF Council in 2013 in Geneva to deepen the member churches’ understanding of what it means to be a communion of churches. As noted in the report to the working group, in 2013 the LWF Council decided that a contemporary discussion on the LWF as an expression of communion was needed in order to respond to new contextual realities.
The members of this working group had therefore prepared and presented insights addressing various aspects of being in communion. Together they studied biblical texts and LWF documents and shared examples from their national experience. The members discussed questions such as the tension between the right of churches to make their own decisions and their accountability to the communion, solidarity, and the kind of structure suited to different regions and traditions.
Communion is more than an idea
The working group consists of seven people from different regions and with different theological expertise: Prof. Dr. Guillermo Hansen (Argentina), Dr. Minna Hietamäki (Finland), Rev. Dr. Allen Jorgenson (Canada), Bishop Em. Dr. Hance Mwakabana (Tanzania), Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Parmentier (France) and Prof. Dr. Ann Yu Tu (Malaysia). LWF representatives Rev. Dr. Kaisamari Hintikka, Rev. Dr. Simone Sinn, Rev. Dr. Patricia Cuyatti and Rev. Dr. Kenneth Mtata also took part in the meeting. A member of the working group from Eastern Europe was unable to attend.
According to the participants, this initial meeting took place in a very constructive and thoughtful working atmosphere. “The contexts of the different participants are so diverse that I expected endless discussions with no possibility of agreement,” working group member Elisabeth Parmentier noted afterward. “But in fact we did not engage in disputes for or against social-ethical decisions. From the very beginning, we focused on the gift of communion that we already share.”
Allen Jorgenson (a pastor from Canada) afterward expressed the hope that “behind the document we are preparing, readers will perceive the communion we experienced as we shared stories of hope, anxiety, confusion and God’s grace. (…) At this meeting, communion was experienced more as an event than as an idea; not so much a gathering of like-minded people as a wrestling of souls together.” The document from this meeting will be submitted to the LWF Council at its annual meeting in June.
The working group will work together for a year and a half to formulate a study document, “The Self-Understanding of the Lutheran Communion.” The resulting documents will be published in 2015.
Photo: The Lutheran World Federation/C.Kästner
Translated from English by LELBāL pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe