“Join, invest, participate”
A Reformation celebration resource for LWF member churches
Geneva, 04.02.2015.
LWF member churches around the world now have the opportunity to “join, invest and participate” in the celebration of 500 years of the Reformation through the LWF website just launched for this purpose – http://2017.lutheranworld.org/
The website, launched on 4 February, marks the beginning of the 2015–2017 period that the LWF has dedicated to commemorating the Reformation.
“This resource will certainly serve as an inspiration to churches as they think about their plans and programs, and as a tool for connecting with LWF member churches around the world in the context of their interests,” said LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge.
In his letter to LWF member churches, the General Secretary encourages churches to seize this opportunity to take part in Reformation commemoration events around the world: * by selecting young people who can join the “Global Young Reformers Network,” which is already active and will meet this August in Wittenberg, Germany; * by using the prepared booklets on the Reformation celebration to engage in local-level theological conversations with bilateral partners; * by offering stories about women – lay or ordained, theologians or leaders in society, who have brought about change in local churches; * by using the report “From Conflict to Communion – Lutheran and Catholic Common Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017” to engage in local-level ecumenical conversations; * by ensuring that every LWF member church plants its tree in the Luther Garden in Wittenberg by 2017; * by participating in the World Exhibition in Wittenberg in 2017 to affirm that the Reformation has become a “citizen of the world.”
The website highlights the fact that the Reformation has become a “citizen of the world” and has taken root in many different contexts. Through this resource the LWF offers opportunities that are good starting points for Lutheran churches around the world to “join, invest and participate” in the 2017 celebrations set out on the new website, Junge concluded.
Churches can send their 2017 plans, the sources they have used, projects and calendar schedules to Rev. Anne Burghardt, LWF secretary for ecumenical relations.
Report prepared from information provided by the LWF http://www.lutheranworld.orgLCCN/Felix Samari
Translated from English by LELBāL pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe