Young people and the draft strategy of the LWF
April 15, 2011 in LWF, Youth, Youth participation
This week, a draft of the strategy for the Lutheran World Federation was published. The strategy is supposed to guide the communion until 2017. The LWF council is going to take a decision on the strategy in June 2011. Until then, there are still possibilities to propose changes.
The text of the draft strategy is available here (in English, Spanish, French and German) and here you can read more about the process.
We already some discussion on an earlier draft (see here). It would be great if we could continue this work.
The overall direction
The draft strategy clearly focuses on strengthening the communion of churches. The churches in the LWF are not simply connected as a loose grouping, they really belong to each other and support each other in their challenges and developments. Therefore, the three major aims of the strategic plan all start the same: “A communion strengthened…”
- A communion strengthened in mutual support for holistic mission
- A communion strengthened in diakonia
- A communion strengthened by ongoing theological discernment and by relationsships of dialogue and collaboration (diapraxis)
The role of young people in the LWF
Young people in the draft strategy
Young people or youth appear in three places in the document:
- They have a goal under the aim “Mutual support for holistic mission”: “Women and young people are actively and more equitably engaged in the life and leadership of churches.” (p. 13)
- It is part in one particular goal under aim 3 “Theology”: “As a communion we embrace a culture of leadership that is inclusive, transparent and accountable. Women and youth are better represented in decision making and can bring their gifts and perspectives to leadership in all aspects of communion life, work and governance.” (p.19)
This is then backed up under strategy commitments in the paragraph “Develop our future leaders” (p.20). Here youth appears beside women and all other groups.
I think It is important to develop future leaders not only for our dear church or LWF only but also the world. I stand for correction but I think Most of the challenges we have in the world today is partly on leadership issues. The youth therefore need holistic leadership training to be able to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the church and peace in the world. This I believe should be part of the daily Sunday school lessons as well as the teaching lessons for the youth and young adults in every local church or congregation. I think it is in the best interest of the LWF to use the contribution of young people for its visions since the youth today are the leaders of tomorrow. Thank you.
Regarding Ecumenism and Holistic Mission:
In p. 5 of the Strategy Plan is stated: “To be Lutheran is to be ecumenical. We work for unity among Christians …, as part of the ecumenical movement. What do the LWF see as its main objective in its work in the ecumenical movement? Is the unity a walk for shared views regarding theology or more a work towards a good cooperation between different denominations? Or both?
Second: p. 5 states: “…accompany each other in shared holostic mission…”. What is the definition of the expression “holistic mission”?
What were the “Official Actions with the Roman Catholic Church” that took place in 1999? (p. 9)
Thank you, Sanna, for your questions!
(1) I would respond that the LWF wants to be ecumenical in these two ways:
(a) Working as part of the wider ecumenical movement; Examples are the strong collaboration in the ACT Alliance and many more cooperations.
(b) There is a history of so-called bi-lateral theological dialogues with other global churches (eg. Pentecostal, Methodist, Reformed, Mennonite, Orthodox, Roman-Catholic). The goal here is to complement the so-called multi-lateral conversations in the framework of the WCC, in order to facilitate deeper mutual understanding.
(2) Holistic mission is a term that has been used in the Ecumenical movement for a while and expresses in short hand the following thought: The church does not have a mission on its own. God is in mission (=sending). Trinitarian theology expresses that since the beginnings of the church. God Father sends God Son in Jesus Christ to the earth in order reconcile the world with Godself (2 Cor 5:18). Also the Holy Spirit is sent out in order to encourage and empower the disciples (cf. John 16). Therefore, God is on a mission. The role of the Church is to participate in God’s mission. However, this mission is not reduced to “making disciples”, it encompasses all that God wants to do for the world. That is certainly proclamation of the good news (including inviting people to the faith, teaching of Christians etc.) but it is also diakonia (practical deeds to help those in need) and advocacy (speaking out for justice). God’s mission then leads to the following effects in world: Transformation, reconciliation and empowerment. (cf. the LWF publication on the topic).
This mission is holistic because it does not emphasize one aspect over another.
(3) The official action was that the Vatican of the Roman-Catholic Church signed the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification” with the Lutheran World Federation. This is widely regarded as a very important ecumenical step because this was the major theological topic the churches split during reformation time.
Thanks for the great questions,
Roger
[...] We had already a good conversation here and here. [...]
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