Cameroonian pastor Rev. Dr Jeannette Ada Epse Maina, delivering the sermon at the opening service of the 2024 Council meeting at Chavannes-de-Bogis, near Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert.
2024 LWF Council meeting opens with worship service
(LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council officially began its first full meeting today with morning worship and celebration of Holy Communion. “Abound in Hope” is the theme of the 13-18 June gathering at Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva, Switzerland.
More than 100 people including the 48 Council members, invited guests and LWF staff are attending. Members of the LWF governing body represent the communion’s seven regions.
LWF Executive Committee member Rev. Jussi Luoma, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, presided at the opening service assisted by other Council members.
Pfr. Jussi Luoma von der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche Finnlands leitet den Eröffnungsgottesdienst für die LWB-Ratstagung 2024. Foto: LWB/Albin Hillert
Co-responsible as churches in communion
She noted that in a similar way, LWF’s unity in diversity is manifested in the different churches that belong to the communion, each with “co-responsibility” for all the others “with whom it shares joys and sufferings.” The former LWF Vice-President for the African region referred to past LWF President Bishop Josiah Kibira (Tanzania) to remind the congregation that “‘there is no church so big and so rich, that it would not depend on the gifts of others’” nor “‘so small and so poor [that] it would not be able to enrich others.’" Large and small churches in the LWF are in communion to support and accompany each other, and work together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world, Maina emphasized.
We are here to make our contribution to building the Lutheran communion which we hold so dear.
Rev. Dr Jeanette Ada Epse Maina, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon
Rev. Dr Jeanette Ada Epse Maina, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon, a member of the LWF Executive Committee, delivered the sermon, which was based on Romans 15:7-13 and Matthew 3:1-3. The Council theme and focus on the church’s mission today resonated throughout her message, with a call to trust in God's future promises of joy and peace.
Maina reflected on the struggles of the early church community and Paul’s call to both the weak and strong to bear responsibility for each other and remain united in the object of their source of hope: faith in Jesus Christ. “Being in Christ is the hope of abundant life,” irrespective of “who you are, what you have, or what you are able to accomplish for yourself or others,” she said. “Hope always carries us forward toward things we cannot see but hope for, toward different levels. It is intimately linked to faith in God.”
She reminded Council members that “We are here to make our contribution to building the Lutheran communion which we hold so dear.” The shared purpose, she said, should be “to see the church of Jesus Christ united in order to share hope with our neighbors near and afar,” the Cameroonian pastor concluded.
LWF Council members during the opening service. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
Prayers for the church and the world
In the liturgy celebration, LWF Council members read prayers of intercession for the witness of the church and its diaconal work, for people suffering injustice in countries torn by war, for the hungry and sick, and for creation. Taizé hymns and music from Tanzania, Peru, Sweden, Palestine, Germany and the United States reflected the diversity of participants representing member churches around the world.
The wafers distributed at Holy Communion were donated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.
Distribution of Holy Communion at the opening service of the 2024 LWF Council meeting. The Eucharist wafers were a gift from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
