December 2010: LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge (left) and LWF President Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan (middle) present Pope Benedict XVI with a gift from Bethlehem depicting the Last Supper. © Servizio Fotografico
Junge: Support for Church’s Pastoral Ministry
The General Secretary of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev. Martin Junge, has offered the communion’s deepest sympathy to the families of the more than 230 young people who died in a “dreadful” nightclub fire 27 January in Brazil.
“Words fail us before the death of so many young people. Their desires and hopes, their joys and ambitions have been tragically cut short,” Junge said in a letter to the President of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), Rev. Dr Nestor P. Friedrich.
The fire took place after a band lit fireworks at a crowded nightclub in Santa Maria, a university city in the Rio Grande do Sul region. The victims, most under the age of 20, inhaled toxic fumes or were crushed in the panic.
Junge offered prayers for the injured and for IECLB congregations coping with the pastoral challenges caused by the tragedy.
“It is promised that it is precisely in such times of deep pain and weakness that God takes us by the hand and inspires the ministry of love, care and acceptance to which the congregations and communities of the IECLB are today being called,” Junge said.
The general secretary assured the Brazilian church of the Lutheran communion’s support, solidarity and accompaniment.
