Finalizing the study report on Baptism and Growth in Communion

The Lutheran–Roman Catholic Commission on Unity will hold its annual meeting in Klingenthal, near Strasbourg, France.

This will be the last meeting for this study commission, which began its work in 2009. The Lutheran World Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity established the study commission in 1967 and organize the international dialogue meetings. The commission has both a Lutheran and a Catholic co-chair.

This year, the commission is expected to finalize the study report, “Baptism and Growth in Communion” a topic it started discussing in 2009.

• LWF Co-chair:  Bishop Emeritus Eero Huovinen
• PCPCU Co-chair: Bishop William Kenney

4th Asia Communicators’ Network Workshop

This workshop in Manila will be the 4th in the series, and it is aimed at consolidating the lessons learnt from the past seminars, and also to further enhance the network relationships.

These series of workshops organized by the LWF Asia Desk aim to strengthen the visibility of the churches participating in God’s mission

1. The first workshop for Asia was from 17 – 20 September 2013, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
   • Participants were given explanation about the function, objective and expectation of the Asia Lutheran News (ALN), published by LWF-Asia Regional Office and functions of the Asia Lutheran Communion website.
   • The new LWF website and its features were also introduced in this workshop.
   • Participants were given daily assignments to improve their skills on writing articles and taking digital photography.
   • News liaisons were encouraged to submit regular news to the ALN / LWF.
2. A second workshop was organised for news liaisons from 11 – 15 November 2014, in Medan, Indonesia.
   • They learned about the functions and objectives of personal communications, Internet: now and in the future and digital photography.
   • News liaisons were trained on how to write articles, blogs and photo essays for LWI/LWF in order to provide quality news articles, regular news updates on current challenges and opportunities of the member churches.
   • The LWF Asia Communication Network was set up in 2014 during this workshop.
3. The Asia Communication Network Workshop in Sabah, Malaysia was the third workshop facilitated by LWF/DMD/Asia Desk and LWF/OCS in 2017.
   • It served as a platform for existing news liaison/communicators and newly identified communicators to develop a strategy to publish regular articles (LWI), blogs and photo essays.
   • In-line with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, all participants were required to prepare a news article/blog/photo essay based on the theme “Liberated by God’s Grace”.

Invitation: By invitation only

Language: English

Departments:

• Department for Mission and Development
• Office for Communication Services

Program: Communion Building

CANCELLED

Representatives of Asian member churches strengthen their Lutheran identity through the exchange of experiences and the sharing of good practices.

Invitation: By invitation only

Language: English

Department: Department for Mission and Development

Program: Church growth

European LWF Council members discuss how to implement the newest decisions of the LWF Council in and across their regions.

Invitation: By invitation only

Language: English and German

Department: Department for Mission and Development

Program: Communion Building

Walking Together to COP24

The LWF will mark the beginning of this year’s Season of Creation by sharing the leadership of the Ecumenical Prayer for Creation in Assisi, Italy, at the Basilica of Saint Francis. The Season of Creation begins on 1 September with the World Day of Prayer for Creation, and lasts until the commemoration of St. Francis on October 4. The prayer service will focus on this year’s theme “Walking Together”, and will launch the first steps of an international, ecumenical pilgrimage to Katowice, Poland, the site of the COP 24.  In addition to prayers, songs and symbolic acts of faith, a joint Ecumenical Declaration on Creation will be read by LWF General Secretary, and leaders of other Christian World Communions. This prayer service will demonstrate the ecumenical unity that all Christians share as we take bold action to care for creation.

Pilgrimage Registration

Assisi: Ecumenical Prayer Service for Creation

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Season of Creation

Season of Creation theme: Listen to unheard voices 28 March 2022 GENEVA, Switzerland Season of Creation 2021: “Challenge the world to care for all creation” 2 September 2021 Geneva Christians around the world invited to celebrate Season of Creation 27 August 2021 GENEVA, Switzerland Season of Creation: Launch of celebration guide and theme 27 May 2021 GENEVA, Switzerland

Photo by Peter K Burian. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

This seminary responds to the concern of growing tensions and polarization during the last years which characterizes relationships in various countries and had influenced organizations at different levels. Frequently, collective failure to resolve conflicts gives birth to new threats that mostly disturb relationships and break trust apart. Fear is one element leading to risky divisions and demagogue practices pay their role.

Member churches are equipped with current theological understanding regarding conflict management, reconciliation, and peace building and count with resource persons for transformation in church and society.

This program seeks to better understand the theological aspects of conflict and reconciliation. Moreover, it aims to equip member churches with skilled leaders in conflict prevention and management tools. Participants will, at the same time, become part of a network of resource Persons for mediation and peace building.

Lutheran church leaders discern together about leadership and learn from each other

Bishops and presidents from LWF’s regions discern and learn together about the communion’s work, the role of individual church leaders and how to support one another.

The 2018 retreat of recently-elected leaders brings together heads of churches—bishops and presidents—from across the LWF regions, and is the fourth in a series that begun in 2015. Through presentations, group discussions and visits to other organizations in Geneva and Wittenberg, the participating heads of churches, synods or dioceses will discern together and learn about:

• The role of individual church leaders in a global communion
• How to support one another
• How to re-think the Reformation for today
• What it means to be a member of the LWF

LWF staff will talk about programmatic work based in Geneva and Wittenberg.

Locations:

• 18 to 22 November - GENEVA, Switzerland

• 23 to 27 November - WITTENBERG, Germany

‘Reformation in Progress – The Relevance of Reformation Today’

Women and men from all regions of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) take part in the second LWF seminar for lay people in church leadership positions, from 9 to 18 August at the LWF Center in Wittenberg, Germany, and at the Ecumenical Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Non-ordained leaders of LWF member churches have the opportunity to study Lutheran theology at historical sites of the Reformation and to experience the communion of churches worldwide.

The participants learn about Lutheran theology and the LWF, and their identity as Lutheran Christians in their respective countries is strengthened.

Location:

• LWF Center in Wittenberg (Germany)
• Ecumenical Centre in Geneva (Switzerland)

First Conviviality Workshop of the New European Diaconal Process 2017-2020

Diaconal actors from 3 European LWF regions discuss convivial living in Europe with particular emphasis on people on the move.

21 participants from 11 European member churches of the Lutheran World Federation will meet in Romania for the 4-day-workshop “People on the Move – Bridges or Walls?”

This workshop is part of the LWF European Diaconal Process “Seeking Conviviality”, organized in cooperation with the International Academy for Diaconia (interdiac). It aims at supporting the work of member churches in the field of diakonia, with particular attention to aspects of identity.

An international think tank of experienced diaconal actors will explore the borders they see in the world and the borders they perceive within themselves, to find a firm theological basis for their efforts to counter populism and xenophobia in their respective countries. The exposure to the local history and context of migration in Romania, the ensuing discussions and exchange of experiences based on the participants’ individual contexts will enable them to build a strong diaconal network among the churches of the three European regions of the LWF.

To mobilize the voices of religious leaders for the protection and promotion of civil society space

The overarching goal of this workshop is to harness the prophetic voice of the Church for the promotion and defence of an enabling civil society space at all levels – nationally, regionally and internationally. Specific objectives are:

1. To discuss the theological foundations pertinent to religious leaders’ role in public space and their relations with the State and other stakeholders.
2. To identify principles for best practices and enabling factors for an effective religious leaders’ engagement on promoting civil society space.
3. To contemplate on the most restricted human rights themes or issues and the role that religious institutions can play to mitigate those restrictions.
4. To discuss partnership with relevant stakeholders (national, regional and international) to defend and promote civil society space.

Language: English

Department: Department for Theology and Public Witness