Lutheran World Federation

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Lutheran World Federation
Logo-LWB.svg
Basic data
president Musa Panti Filibus
Secretary General: Martin Young
Founding year: 1947
Member churches: 148
Members: 75.5 million
Seat: Geneva , Switzerland
Website: www.lutheranworld.org

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), English The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a global communion of Lutheran churches and was in 1947 in Lund founded (Sweden). There are 148 member churches with more than 75.5 million Lutheran Christians in 99 countries. Its forerunner organization was the Lutheran World Convention founded in 1923 .

Teaching basis

“The LWF professes the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the sole source and norm of its teaching, life and ministry. He sees in the three ecumenical creeds and in the confessions of the Lutheran Church, in particular in the unchanged Augsburg Confession and in Martin Luther's Small Catechism, an accurate interpretation of the Word of God.

The member churches profess the triune God, agree in the preaching of God's word and are connected in pulpit and communion fellowship. The LWF confesses the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church and wants to serve the unity of Christianity in the world. "

tasks and goals

The basis of the work of the LWF is the Bible and the Lutheran confessions .

The LWF has these four goals in particular:

  • Strengthening the communion and cooperation of the Lutheran churches in the world
  • Ecumenical and interreligious relationships, but also clarification of theological questions
  • Witness in Church and Society
  • Understanding, responsibility and participation

In order to achieve these goals, the LWF is particularly involved in emergency and disaster relief, international and human rights issues, as well as missionary and development work. Most of the work of the LWF is social welfare and development. The LWF World Service is the tenth largest implementation partner of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and operates in 27 countries on three continents. In 2017, around 90% of the LWF's total budget was spent on the World Service Department alone. The LWF also awards grants to students worldwide.

structure

organs

The LWF Communion office is located in the Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland. This enables close cooperation with the World Council of Churches (WCC / WCC) and other Christian organizations around the world. As the organ of its member churches, the LWF acts in areas of common interest, such as ecumenical and interreligious relations, theology, humanitarian aid, human rights, communication and various aspects of missionary and development work.

The highest decision-making body is the general assembly , which usually meets every six years. Other organs are the Council, the Secretary General and the President .

The General Secretary has been the Chilean Pastor Martin Junge since 2010 .

The President is the Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, Musa Panti Filibus , who was elected at the General Assembly in Windhoek (Namibia) on May 13, 2017 . He succeeds Munib Younan, who was elected in 2010 for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) .

LWF Communion Office

The office manages the business of the Lutheran World Federation that has been entrusted to it. It works closely with member churches, organizations and other partners. The office is divided into four departments .

  • Mission and Development Department
  • Planning and Operations Department
  • Department of Theology and Public Witness
  • Department of World Service

It is the seat of the Secretary General's office.

General assemblies

Postage stamp (1952) for the general assembly in Hanover

The following general assemblies have taken place so far:

The working languages ​​of the LWF are German, English, French and Spanish.

Largest member churches by membership

The largest member churches are (number of members in millions, as of 2016):

President of the Lutheran World Federation

The presidents of the LWF were or are:

General Secretaries of the Lutheran World Federation

The general secretaries were or are:

Member churches

Countries with the most Lutherans (Lutheran World Federation figures, 2013)
  • more than 10 million members
  • more than 5 million
  • more than 1 million
  • more than 500 thousand
  • more than 100 thousand

    • In 2018, the Lutheran World Federation had 148 member churches from 99 countries (2016: 145 out of 98), among them the seven German regional churches united in the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany , as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Oldenburg , the Evangelical regional church in Württemberg , the Lutheran class of the Lippe Regional Church , the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Baden , the Austrian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Austria and the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein .

    A full list of member churches can be found in the article List of Member Churches of the Lutheran World Federation .

    German National Committee

    The German National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation (DNK / LWB) represents the eleven German member churches with a total of 11.5 million parishioners, and coordinates their work from Hanover . The current chairman is Regional Bishop Frank Otfried July , Stuttgart ( Evangelical Church in Württemberg ). The managing director is Oberkirchenrat Norbert Denecke .

    The 95 theses at the castle church in Wittenberg

    LWF Center Wittenberg

    Since March 15, 2009, the Lutheran World Federation has had its own office in Lutherstadt Wittenberg . It should u. a. Offer spiritual and theological accompaniment to church groups from the Lutheran world family and develop study programs for student and community groups as well as parish conventions. A close connection with the Foundation of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the Center of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Wittenberg is also sought.

    One of the first tasks of the center was to accompany the construction of the "Luther Garden", in which 500 trees were planted by partners from the global ecumenical movement . The first planting took place on November 1st, 2009. It led to the celebrations for the Reformation anniversary in 2017 (500 years 95 theses of Martin Luther).

    The first director of the LWF Center Wittenberg was the Lutheran theologian Hans W. Kasch , previously the pastor for mission and ecumenism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg . He was followed on October 1, 2018 by Inken Wöhlbrand , student chaplain at the West Coast University of Applied Sciences in Heide and pastor of the Meldorf parish in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany.

    Tensions within the LWF

    The member churches of the LWF have agreed to have full communion fellowship with one another.

    There is a recurring tension within the LWF over issues of women's ordination and the blessing of same-sex couples . Of the 145 member churches of the Lutheran World Federation (as of February 2016) 26 churches do not ordain women, so 82% of the LWF member churches, with more than 90% of the LWF members, agree to the ordination of women. Divergent views on marriage, family, and sexuality regularly lead to discussions within the LWF.

    Three Lutheran bishops from the Baltic states wrote a letter to General Secretary Noko at the time, in which they expressed their concern that, due to the blessing of homosexual couples in several member churches, the continued existence of ecclesiastical fellowship within the LWF was endangered, or in the opinion of the Lutheran Archbishop Jānis Vanags has ended. The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad split off from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia . The Ethiopian Mekane Yesus Church , the largest Lutheran church in the world since 2016, decided at its 19th General Assembly to enter into a partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Church of Sweden based on their decisions on the blessing of same-sex couples and the opening of the pastoral office to homosexuals cancel.

    Ecumenical Relations

    International Lutheran Council (ILC)

    In addition to the Lutheran World Federation, there is, among other things, the more conservative International Lutheran Council (ILC) as an association of confessional Lutheran churches. The LWF and the ILC have recently had contact discussions with a final communiqué entitled What unites us - what divides us .

    Mennonites

    At its eleventh plenary meeting in Stuttgart in 2010, the Lutheran World Federation asked in a historic event for "the forgiveness of God and the Mennonite sisters and brothers" for the persecution of the Anabaptists during the Reformation in the 16th century and to ask for future healing in memory and reconciliation . This was preceded by an international dialogue process as well as discussions at national level that in France and Germany go back to the 1980s. Shortly thereafter, the LWF, Mennonites, and the Catholic Church began a trilateral dialogue on understanding baptism, which continues to this day.

    Roman Catholic Church

    On October 31, 2016, a joint Lutheran-Catholic church service to commemorate the Reformation took place in Lund Cathedral (Sweden). The joint prayer of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church in Lund Cathedral and the subsequent public event in Malmö were joined by Pope Francis, then LWF President Bishop Munib A. Younan and LWF General Secretary Pastor Martin Junge Head of the Church of Sweden and the Catholic Diocese in Stockholm. Both church representatives emphasized the importance of the 50-year-old ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Lutherans and the common gifts that grew out of it. The Catholic-Lutheran Reformation commemoration focused on the themes of thanksgiving, confession of guilt and the obligation to share witness.

    The service took place on the basis of the Lutheran-Catholic liturgical guideline “Ecumenical Service”, which is based on the report “From Conflict to Community”. In the afternoon of the same day in the Malmö Arena, the focus was on the commitment of Catholics and Lutherans to common witness and service. Priorities of the work of LWF World Service and Caritas Internationalis were presented. This includes aid for refugees, peace services and working for climate justice. The two aid organizations then signed a cooperation agreement in front of around 10,000 spectators.

    Joint declaration on the doctrine of justification

    On 31 October 1999, the LWF and the Roman Catholic Church in Augsburg signed the " Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification " (Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification). This declaration describes an understanding of what was church-dividing during the Reformation. Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy , President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity , and LWF President Christian Krause signed the document in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Anna in Augsburg .

    On July 23, 2006, the Methodists joined with the signature of the President, Bishop Sunday Mbang and General Secretary George Freeman. On July 4, 2017, at an ecumenical ceremony in Wittenberg , the world community of Reformed churches also joined the declaration, which was signed by the general secretary of the world community, Chris Ferguson in the Wittenberg city church .

    In a service in Westminster Abbey on October 31, 2017, the Anglican Church presented a resolution that “welcomes and affirms” the Lutheran-Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification .

    literature

    • From world association to community. History of the Lutheran World Federation 1947–1997. Edited by Jens Holger Schjørring. Translated by Dorothea Millwood and Helen Holze. Lutherisches Verlagshaus, Hanover 1997, ISBN 3-7859-0745-1 .
    • Lutheran ministry. 43rd year, issue 1, 2007, ISSN  2196-5978 .

    Web links

    Commons : Lutheran World Federation  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ About the LWF. In: lutheranworld.org. Lutheran World Federation, accessed September 12, 2018; The German-language website About Us, accessed on September 12, 2018, is out of date.
    2. ↑ See About Us. Self-understanding of the LWF. In: de.lutheranworld.org, accessed October 25, 2017.
    3. ↑ a b See LWF Priorities. In: de.lutheranworld.org, accessed October 25, 2017.
    4. ↑ Higher income, balanced budget despite financial challenges. In: lutheranworld.org. June 17, 2016, accessed October 25, 2017.
    5. ↑ LWF Annual Report 2014. June 2015, p. 76 (English; PDF; 4.14 MB).
    6. ↑ Lutheran World Federation: An African elected to the top. In: idea.de. May 14, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
    7. ↑ Communion Office Organigram 2018. (PDF; 34 kB) In: lutheranworld.org. June 2018, accessed on September 12, 2018 .
    8. ^ Assembly History. In: lwfassembly.org. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
    9. ↑ a b Member Churches. In: lutheranworld.org. October 25, 2017, accessed October 25, 2017 .
    10. ↑ More than 74 million members in LWF's 145 churches. In: The Lutheran World Federation. August 30, 2016, accessed October 25, 2017 .
    11. ↑ A Gallery of Portraits: LWF Presidents since 1947. In: lutheranworld.org, accessed on September 12, 2018 (PDF; 257 kB).
    12. ^ Palestinian Bishop Elected President of the Lutheran World Federation. Bishop Munib A. Younan is a Passionate Campaigner for Peace and Inter-Faith Dialogue in the Middle East. (No longer available online.) In: lwf-assembly.org. July 24, 2010, archived from the original on July 26, 2010 ; accessed on October 1, 2018 .
    13. ↑ Udo Hahn : Bishop Munib Younan will head the Lutheran World Federation in future. In: schattenblick.de. July 25, 2010, accessed August 1, 2010.
    14. ^ A Galerie of Portraits: LWF Generalsecretaries since 1947. In: lutheranworld.org, accessed on September 12, 2018 (PDF; 415 kB).
    15. ^ German National Committee of the Lutheran World Federation. In: dnk-lwb.de, accessed on October 13, 2015.
    16. ↑ About us. In: dnk-lwb.de. July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2019 .
    17. ^ LWF Center Wittenberg. In: dnk-lwb.de, accessed on July 15, 2019.
      LWF Center. In: lwb-zentrum-wittenberg.de, accessed on July 15, 2019.
    18. ↑ Inken Wöhlbrand takes over the management of the LWF center. In: Lutheran Service. Journal of the Martin Luther Association. 54th year, 2018, issue 3, ISSN  2196-5978 , p. 13.
      Inken Wöhlbrand to become new director of LWF Center Wittenberg. In: lutheranworld.org. March 4, 2018, accessed October 1, 2018.
    19. ↑ More than 80 percent of LWF churches ordain women. In: lutheranworld.org. June 2, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2017 .
    20. ↑ Feature: It's not just about equality. Message from Church Leaders to the LWF Council ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ); Article of the LWI of March 30, 2007.
    21. ↑ God did not create Adam and Adam. In: kath.net . March 27, 2007, accessed October 16, 2017.
    22. ↑ LWF Church Leaders Discuss Report on Marriage, Family and Sexuality. Call for deeper reflection on theological understanding ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). LWF Council meeting in Lund, Sweden, March 20-27, 2007, press release 12, March 24, 2007, accessed October 27, 2017.
    23. ↑ See open letter from the three Baltic Lutheran bishops to the Swedish archbishop and to the presidium of the Lutheran World Federation on the question of church recognition of same-sex partnerships. (PDF; 26 kB) (No longer available online.) In: nbc-pfalz.de. Network of professing Christians - Palatinate, April 13, 2006, archived from the original on January 31, 2012 ; Retrieved November 30, 2018 (from: Svētdienas Rīts. Newspaper of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia, March 11, 2006; German).
    24. ↑ See Jānis Vanags: Archbishop Vanags' statement on the ordination of women, the blessing of same-sex couples, and staying in the LWF. (No longer available online.) In: idea.de. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved October 25, 2017 (before June 1, 2007; no mementos).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.idea.de .
    25. ^ Markus Dröge : Word of the Bishop. October 27, 2016. State Synod of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. 26.-29. October 2016. p. 4 ( ekbo.de [PDF; 236 kB, accessed on September 13, 2018]).
    26. ↑ Lutheran church in Ethiopia severs relationship with ELCA. (No longer available online.) In: elca.org. ELCA News Service, February 7, 2016, archived from the original on February 10, 2013 ; Retrieved on December 10, 2018 (English, repeal of church fellowship by the Mekane Yesus Church vis-à-vis the ELCA and the Church of Sweden).
    27. ↑ Closer Relationships Between Lutherans and Mennonites. In: Lutheran World Federation. July 5, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
    28. ^ From Conflict to Communion: Together in Hope. (No longer available online.) In: lund2016.net. Joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation, 2016, archived from the original on May 18, 2017 ; Retrieved April 19, 2017 (American English).
    29. ↑ In striving for fellowship and common witness. In: de.lutheranworld.org. July 5, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017 .
    30. ^ Archbishop Welby to present ACC Reformation resolution to Catholic and Lutheran leaders. In: anglicannews.org. October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017 (UK English).