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Friday October 26, 2007

[Foto: WCC.]
[Foto: WCC.]

World Reformed Alliance challenge to the ecumenical movement discussed by Lutherans

Nilton Giese and ALC/CLAI, SANTIAGO , Chile, April 20, 2007

The leadership conference of the Latin American Lutheran Churches held in Santiago de Chile, has Taxi Heathrow Airport discussed the need for a reshaping of the ecumenical movement.

“Since the IX Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 2005, a reshaping of ecumenism is spoken of in an attempt to once again imagine what the ecumenical movement could be like in the future. A proposal along that line has been made by the World Reformed Alliance challenging the large denominational families to have their international assemblies converge into one single ecumenical assembly,” explained Pastor Martín Junge, World Lutheran Federation Coordinator for Latin America.

“The Lutheran World Federation will hold its next assembly in Stuttgart, Germany in 2010 and according to General Secretary Dr. Ishmael Noko, the assembly in Stuttgart will be the last following the present form, pointing out that there is a liking for the WRA proposal,” said Junge.

For Pastor Dr. Walter Altmann, Moderator of the World Council of Churches and President of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB in Spanish), the proposal is both economically and ecumenically motivated. “There are denominational families that are very enthusiastic as well as other groups who are worried because of this proposal for an ecumenical assembly. Those who are enthusiastic argue that the present international assemblies are too expensive and that an ecumenical assembly could better join together the efforts of the churches for common causes. However, the Orthodox family is worried because there could be a Protestant hegemony. What is certain is that there already is a proposal to have the experience of an initial ecumenical assembly in 2017, on the occasion of the commemorating of the 500 years of the Protestant Reformation,” Altmann said.

The fact is that the ecumenical movement, particularly that in Latin America, goes beyond the churches that participate in the WCC. For example, this coming June there will be a gathering in Santiago de Chile of denominational families, both members and non-members of the WCC. The gathering will be in preparation for the Global Christian Forum that will take place in November in Nairobi, Kenya.

“This forum is an attempt to create greater opportunities for churches that are not members of the WCC to bring about relationships and to challenge them to undertake joint actions,” Altmann explained.