Highlights from the Second Day of the ELCIC’s National Church Council September Meeting

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC)’s National Church Council (NCC) is meeting in Winnipeg from September 27-29. The following is an overview of highlights from the second day of meetings:

NCC commenced on the second day of meetings at 9:00 a.m. with prayer and devotions on Romans 14:7-8.

The first item on the agenda for the day was a report from Group Services Inc (GSI). John Wolff, chair of the board for GSI, reported on the “slow and steady progress” of the solvency position of GSI. When GSI began their solvency funding strategies in 2003 there was a $16 million deficit; projections for 2007 estimate that number could be reduced to $10.5 million by the end of the year. “We’ve made some strides here,” notes Wolfe.

Council heard reports from the five ELCIC Synod Bishops; Rev. Roger Haugen, Assistant to the Bishop for the Saskatchewan Synod provided a report in Bishop Cindy Halmarson’s absence. Bishops share highlights and concerns for their respective synod and these reports are part of the Council’s environmental scan. Mission renewal is a focus in many synods with programs being developed to train both pastors and lay leaders. New models for ministry are being explored among the synods to address concerns arising from the increasing number of congregations that are holding worship services with an average number of 50 or less members.

The Report from the Office of the Bishop was presented. Since the report is sent to council members prior to the meeting, the time devoted to this item on the agenda is used to ask questions and address recommendations submitted in the report.

Rev. Ryan Andersen, Assistant to the Bishop for Stewardship in Public Life provided an update on the Task Force for Human Sexuality. An update of the Task Force is available on the ELCIC website at https://elcic.ca/Human-Sexuality/default.cfm .

The following appointments were ratified by the council: 

  • Ms. Judy Kochendorfer; to serve on both the Anglican Church of Canada Council of General Synod (COGS) and the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission
  • Rev. Doug Reble; to serve on the Canadian Council of Churches governing board
  • Rev. Dr. Allen Jorgenson; to serve on the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission
  • The re-appointment of Bishop Michael Pryse and Rev. Ilze Kuplens-Ewart; to serve on the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission.

Council recessed for lunch at 12:00 noon and reconvened at 1:00 p.m.

Council received and passed a motion to recommend that the ELCIC proceed with the "Meeting our Muslim Neighbours" project to encourage and empower broad leadership, and provide resources that can be used by congregations to engage their Muslim neighbours in conversation.

Council heard reports from the Director of Finance and Administration, the Treasurer and the Audit committee.

Correspondence sent to the National Bishop, Officers of the Church and/or council was reviewed. Letters sent to the attention of council and the officers are distributed to NCC, along with correspondence sent to the National Bishop that is of value to the council.

A number of items regarding the 2007 National Convention were presented to the council. Minutes from the convention were approved with revisions. A report from the convention, including a summary evaluation of the 2007 National Convention was shared with council members. Council also reviewed a number of action items that came forward to council as a result of motions passed at convention.

Kathy Magnus, North American Regional Officer of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), gave her report to council. LWF is currently going through a renewal process; Bishop Raymond Schultz is chair of the renewal committee. While there are only 80 staff in the Geneva head office, with over 5,000 LWF staff deployed in the field the positive impact of LWF is far-reaching.

Earlier this year, Magnus announced that she will be taking an early retirement at the end of 2007. Magnus thanked council members for their "accompaniment in this wonderful experience called The Lutheran World Federation. The ELCIC has been an absolutely critical partner." Magnus noted that a number of key ELCIC individuals are involved in significant positions within the LWF. "Thank you for the leadership you share through these people," Magnus told council.

Magnus also noted the significant financial commitment the ELCIC has made to The LWF. "You aren’t a very big church, [yet] you’ve made a significant, constant contribution to the global Lutheran family. Thank you for always being there and for always making this a priority."

National Bishop Susan C. Johnson noted how Magnus has become, "an integral part of the ELCIC’s life as a church." Of Magnus’ contribution to the ELCIC, Bishop Johnson said that Magnus helped the ELCIC, "claim the work of The LWF as our work and [has] shown us that 66 million Lutherans do make a difference." Council presented Magnus with a small gift of appreciation.

Council adjourned at 4:45 p.m. with devotions and prayer. Saturday’s agenda will include reports from Evangelical Lutheran Women Inc. (ELW) and partner reports from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Anglican Church of Canada. Council will adjourn prior to the Ordination and Installation Service for Bishop Johnson which will take place at 3:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Winnipeg.

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

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Highlights from the First Day of September NCC Meetings

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC)’s National Church Council (NCC) is meeting in Winnipeg from September 27-29. The following is an overview of highlights from the first day of meetings:

The September meeting of NCC commenced with Opening Worship Service at 7:00 p.m. at Laureate’s Landing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ELCIC National Bishop Susan C. Johnson delivered the sermon at Opening Worship. A copy of the sermon will be available on the Bishop’s page on the ELCIC website: https://elcic.ca/From-the-Bishop/default.cfm

The business session of NCC commenced at 8:00 p.m. This is the first full National Church Council meeting for National Bishop Susan C. Johnson since she was elected at the ELCIC National Convention in June. "Let me just say how much I am looking forward to working with you and to our partnership" noted Bishop Johnson in her opening remarks to council, "This is an exciting time for me."

NCC members were joined by Kathy Magnus, North American Officer of The Lutheran World Federation, Carlos Pena, Vice-President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and The Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson, Bishop of Toronto of the Anglican Church of Canada. Synod Bishops are also in attendance at NCC meetings as advisory members. Bishop Cindy Halmarson of the Saskatchewan Synod is absent for this set of meetings as she is on a short medical leave.

Round-table introductory remarks were shared and the agenda for the meeting was approved. In addition, the NCC Minutes from the June 20 and 24, 2007 were approved by council.

The business session was adjourned for the day. Friday’s agenda will include reports from Group Services Inc, the Office of the Bishop, the Officers and the Director of Finance and Administration.

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

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Deepening Full Communion: Lutheran bishops for Anglican dioceses?

It was an accidental picnic that first got the Anglicans and Lutherans of Carman, Manitoba, together.

Lutheran pastor Jim Halmarson explained how 12 years ago the town double-booked the local park, so members of his congregation had to flip their burgers alongside the Anglicans. The afternoon of forced fellowship started a three-year process of closer relations, from joint worship services to eventually an amalgamated church, Grace St. John’s Anglican / Lutheran.

These unions develop gradually. In June, Canadian Anglicans and Lutherans deepened their Full Communion relationship when their two national meetings voted to allow ministers to hold offices in each other’s denominations.

"It would now be possible for a Lutheran to be elected an Anglican bishop, which would be interesting," said Alyson Barnett-Cowan, director of Faith, Worship, and Ministry for the Anglican General Synod.

Rev. Halmarson welcomed the news. "I think it gives us a diversity for discovering leadership at different levels," he said. He also thinks there’s a "good possibility" that a Lutheran bishop may be elected in an Anglican church (or vice versa) during his lifetime.

"It’s going to be the growing pain thing of just getting used to each other enough that we say, ‘yeah, this can happen.’ I think we’re at a time in the church when people are more open to some of these ideas."

At a Lutheran synod several years ago Rev. Halmarson asked if he could nominate an Anglican to be synodical bishop. The answer was "no," but today it would be "yes."

An ongoing process
The two denominations have been in a "full communion" relationship since 2001, when the Waterloo Declaration asserted their similarities and allowed interchangeability of clergy. Confirmations had already been mutually recognized since 1995.

The Waterloo Declaration didn’t address the question of clergy holding offices in the other denomination. "I think that the resolution [at General Synod 2007] grew out of the lived experience of clergy being able to serve in each other’s churches," said Rev. Barnett-Cowan. "Practical questions come up as the relationship is being lived into."

Rev. Barnett-Cowan and Archbishop Fred Hiltz, elected Primate at the June General Synod, have served on the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission, as well as an international commission uniting Anglicans and Lutherans worldwide.

Every six years, as in 2007, the national meetings for Anglicans and Lutherans coincide. This year they celebrated a water-themed Anglican-Lutheran Day. Fellowship with the Lutherans was the main reason General Synod was held in Winnipeg this year.

More fellowship will take place on Sept. 29 at the ordination of the new Lutheran national bishop, Susan Johnson, in Winnipeg. Archbishop Hiltz, local Bishop Don Phillips of the diocese of Rupert’s Land, and Bishop Colin Johnson of Toronto, a member of the Joint Anglican-Lutheran Commission, will participate by laying hands on Bishop Johnson.

Living out full communion
At the grassroots church level, Anglican-Lutheran relationships have been developing organically-like at accidental picnics. No one is keeping track of exactly how many joint parishes there are across Canada, or how many Lutheran and Anglican ministers are serving in the other’s churches. The denominations are so closely bound that the term "ecumenical" isn’t even used.

Rev. Halmarson said his own Anglican-Lutheran background was mainly "circumstantial." His home church is St. Stephen’s and St. Bede, a Winnipeg church with a mixed Anglican and Lutheran congregation. Currently he serves at Christ Church Anglican in Saskatoon, and his wife is the Lutheran bishop of Saskatchewan.

He admits that her position influenced his choice to serve at an Anglican church. "I didn’t want my wife to be my boss everywhere," he laughs.

Rev. Halmarson has enjoyed working out the quirks of being Lutheran in an Anglican church. Parishioners have commented on his "Teutonic orderliness" but also the richness of the Lutheran confession and absolution.

Every day he drives by a Lutheran church to work. A hundred years ago the churches were divided by culture and language, but now Rev. Halmarson wonders, "does it make sense to have an Anglican and a Lutheran congregation a block away?"

Throughout his Anglican-Lutheran ministries he has enjoyed the process of meshing traditions. In Manitoba, he developed an Anglican-Lutheran confirmation liturgy with Bishop Don Phillips of Rupert’s Land. "Don and I sat down and rewrote the liturgy to represent some of the best of both traditions and the things that are common, and we worked hard at it. It was a fun process. It takes effort."

This sort of openness and creativity keeps the relationship flourishing. "I think we live comfortably within our traditions, and think that we’re going to lose if we come together," said Rev. Halmarson. "From my perspective the opposite is true, that we actually gain far more than we would lose. The most often stated phrase from Jesus is ‘do not fear.’"

(Forwarded from the Anglican Church of Canada.)

Read the Waterloo Declaration online:
https://elcic.ca/In-Convention/2001-Waterloo/The-Waterloo-Declaration/default.cfm

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

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Job Posting for Lutheran World Federation Regional Officer for North America

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) invites applications for the position of Regional Officer for North America. Reporting to the LWF Director for the Department of Mission and Development, this position is based in Chicago and is responsible for the coordination of regional and sub-regional activities initiated by member churches and the LWF departments and offices, processing of mission and communication projects from member churches and LWF representation in the region. View the full description online: https://elcic.ca/Leadership/Employment-Opportunities/Job-Postings.cfm

Note: the deadline for applications is October 15, 2007.

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

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GHDA Issues Appeal to Assist with Relief Efforts Following Severe Flooding in Colombia

The ELCIC’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal is collecting donations to assist with ongoing relief efforts in Colombia. Since March 2007, continuous rains have plagued the region of Colombia affecting 600,00 Colombians and displacing more than 300 families.

Action By Churches Together (ACT) International along with The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CPDH) have been assisting with relief support to the municipalities of Arauca and Arauguita through food distribution, health care, sanitation and housing since July.

On August 8, ACT announced it has reassessed the situation and, "decided that LWF should reinforce its support to displaced families in the department of Arauca who are particularly vulnerable. Through funding support to this appeal, LWF with its partner CPDH plans to continue their relief intervention, which includes: i) the operation of community kitchens, ii) recreational activities for youths and iii) awareness activities on health and human rights."

Funds collected through GHDA will be forwarded on to Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) who partners with ACT.

To support relief efforts in Colombia, donations can be made to GHDA – Colombia Flooding Appeal as follows:

– Via the ELCIC Website: www.elcic.ca (click on the "Donate Now" link)
– By mail: GHDA, 302-393 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 3H6 (please indicate "GHDA-Colombia Flooding Appeal" in the memo portion of the cheque)
– Through all GHDA Congregations

The ELCIC’s Synod of Alberta and the Territories is the Companion Synod of Colombia.

The ELCIC’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal (GHDA) works in partnership with Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) to carry out development and emergency response work internationally along with refugee resettlement in Canada.

—————————————————————–
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

Read more

GHDA Issues Joint Appeal with CLWR to Assist with Relief Efforts Following Sever Earthquake in Peru

The ELCIC’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal (GHDA) is accepting donations to support relief efforts in Peru following the 8.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Peru near Pisco on Wednesday, August 15 at 6:41 p.m. local time.

National and local authorities indicate that there are almost 17,000 families affected (mostly by loss of homes), atleast 540 deaths and close to 1,600 injured. In rural areas the total number of destroyed homes could be as high as 70,000.

Designated funds received by GHDA will be sent on to CLWR who is partnering with Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.

The BC Synod’s Faith and Society Committee announced that it has forwarded $5,000 to GHDA, "to assist with the relief and development work that will be needed in the midst of this crisis."

The BC Synod is the Companion Synod of the Peruvian Evangelical Lutheran Church (ILEP) and while reports from President Pedro Bullon indicate that none of the ILEP communities have been directly impacted, members of the Lutheran churches have friends and family in the affected areas. Prior to the earthquake, plans had already been well underway for a visit to Peru from members of the BC Synod. After determining that congregations of the ILEP were not largely affected by the earthquake, Bishop Gerhard and Winn Preibisch, along with 11 people from Christ Lutheran, Chilliwack left for their Companion Synod trip on Friday, August 17. A blog has been set up for the group to contribute to during their two weeks in Peru (http://www.clcperu2007.blogspot.com/ ).

To support relief efforts in Peru, donations can be made to GHDA – Peru Earthquake Appeal as follows:

– Via the ELCIC Website: www.elcic.ca (click on the "Donate Now" link)
– By mail: GHDA, 302-393 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 3H6 (please indicate "GHDA-Peru Earthquake Appeal" in the memo portion of the cheque)
– Through all GHDA Congregations

The ELCIC’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal (GHDA) works in partnership with Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) in order to carry out development and emergency response work internationally along with refugee resettlement in Canada.

A bulletin insert has been made available so that congregations can easily distribute information on this appeal. It can be found at the following link: https://elcic.ca/GHDA/GHDA-Appeal/documents/PeruEarthquake.pdf

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

Read more

Canada Lutheran – Editor

The award-winning national publication of the ELCIC invites applications for the position of Editor. View the full description of this position.

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GHDA Issues Joint Appeal with CLWR to Assist With Relief Efforts Following Sever Flooding in Southeast Asia

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC)’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal (GHDA) is accepting donations to support relief efforts Southeast Asia, including Bangladesh, Nepal and India, after torrential monsoon rains hit the region causing rivers to burst their banks.

News reports estimate that more than 230 people have died in the past 11 days and about 10 million people are homeless or cut off from their villages with little or no access to food or health care.

Designated funds received through GHDA will be sent on to Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) which is already engaged in relief efforts in the region, including the distribution of temporary shelter materials such as polythene sheets, water purification tablets, family kits of clothing, bed sheets, mosquito nets and hygiene items.

To assist with the immediate needs in the affected areas, GHDA has designated $5,000 which has been sent to CLWR to assist with their efforts in the region. The funds are from GHDA’s Emergency Disaster Response Fund which was established thanks to an anonymous gift and allows GHDA to allocate funds immediately when an emergency occurs and then replenish the Fund with donations to the church-wide appeal.

To support relief efforts in Southeast Asia, donations can be made to GHDA – Southeast Asia Appeal as follows:

– Via the ELCIC Website: www.elcic.ca (click on the Donate Now link)
– By mail: GHDA, 302-393 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R3B 3H6 (please indicate "GHDA – Southeast Asia Appeal" in the memo portion of the cheque)
– Through all ELCIC Congregations

The ELCIC’s Global Hunger and Development Appeal works in partnership with Canadian Lutheran World Relief in order to carry out development and emergency response work internationally along with refugee resettlement in Canada.

—————————————————————-
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

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LWF Dismayed by Vatican Document Despite Significant Ecumenical Results; General Secretary Noko Affirms Lutheran Churches’ "Understanding to Be Fully Church"

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has expressed dismay and disappointment that a document released this week by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, reasserts again for Roman Catholic theologians that the title "church" is not properly to be extended to Christian communities such as the LWF and its member bodies.

In a statement issued today in response to the Vatican document, "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko affirms that "Lutheran churches do not accept the understandings of church or the description of our lived reality of faith," found in the document.

Referring to the September 2000 document "Dominus Iesus – On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church," Noko notes that while the current position of the Vatican is not new to the LWF, "we are saddened and disappointed that it is reasserted again for our current context, in which the work of ecumenical partnership has produced such significant results."

Noko points to the "common understanding" articulated by the October 1999 adoption of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) as recognition of a "decisive step forward on the way to overcoming the division of the church." He says the affirmation of the JDDJ by the World Methodist Council, in July 2006, has shown the declaration’s "power to become more than a statement on a sixteenth-century issue."

"Understanding ourselves to be fully church, where the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered, we remain committed to ecumenical dialogue, including continued conversation with our partners in the Roman Catholic Church," the LWF general secretary stresses.

He adds that the LWF understands Christian unity to be both God’s gift to the "one Body of Christ and the task of the People of God."

The full text of the LWF statement follows:

Statement by Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko
General Secretary, The Lutheran World Federation

The Lutheran World Federation learns with dismay of the "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," issued from the Vatican this week by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This document clarifies for Roman Catholic theologians that the title "church" is not properly to be extended to "Christian communities" like the member bodies of our Lutheran communion, which were shaped by the crucible of Reformation. While this position is not new to us, we are saddened and disappointed that it is reasserted again for our current context, in which the work of ecumenical partnership has produced such significant results.

On 31 October 1999, the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church together adopted a Joint Declaration that articulated a "common understanding" on the Doctrine of Justification and so accomplished what the signers recognized as a "decisive step forward on the way to overcoming the division of the church." In the years since 1999, as the Declaration was affirmed also by the World Methodist Council, it has shown its power to become more than a statement on a sixteenth-century issue: its generous spirit provides an example of ways that "our churches have come to new insights" – both about their own particular traditions and about one another. In this Joint Declaration, a clarifying note states that the word "church" is used in the document "to reflect the self-understanding of the particular churches, without intending to resolve all the ecclesiological issues related to them." This stance allowed the dialogue to proceed as between partners ("par cum pari"). The mutual respect and reserve of such an approach, so essential to the Joint Declaration, are helpful also in the wider ecumenical relations among churches. Without such an approach, problems arise not only on the world level but also locally, where pastors and faith communities are developing relationships as genuine ecumenical partners as they seek faithfully to serve God in their communities.

Lutheran churches do not accept the understandings of church or the description of our lived reality of faith which are found in the "Responses." Understanding ourselves to be fully church, where the gospel is rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered, we remain committed to ecumenical dialogue, including continued conversation with our partners in the Roman Catholic Church. We understand Christian unity to be both God’s gift to the one Body of Christ and the task of the People of God. We will continue to pursue our vision of Christian unity as willed and prayed for by Christ himself.

Geneva,
11 July 2007

* * *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of nearly 66.7 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

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Lutheran World Federation Regional Officer for North America, Kathy J. Magnus, Announces Early Retirement

Kathy J. Magnus, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Regional Officer for North America, announced today that she will be leaving the position at the end of this year and taking an early retirement.

Magnus has served in the position since January 2002 and during her six years of service with the LWF, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Magnus has come to know Canada and the ELCIC. As an advisor to the ELCIC National Church Council, Magnus attended both fall and spring meetings each year and participated in ELCIC National Conventions, attended the Canadian Lutheran Youth Gatherings and has presented at conventions of both the Eastern and Saskatchewan synods.

"Kathy Magnus has been a true friend of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and a wonderful connection for this church with the rest of the Lutheran communion," said Rev. Paul Johnson, ELCIC Assistant to the Bishop for Ecumenical Relations, after receiving the news of Magnus’ early retirement. "Although she is a member of the ELCA, in her position as Regional Officer for the Lutheran World Federation North America she has always been deeply committed to the full participation of the ELCIC in the life of the LWF, both in the Region and in the whole Federation. She has been a gracious and informative presence at many, many ELCIC events, including regular attendance at National Church Council. "

Johnson noted, "She will be sorely missed, not only in Geneva and Chicago, but in Winnipeg and all across Canada. We give thanks to God for the gifts she has shared so freely with us over the past years, and wish her God’s richest blessings for the future."

Magnus works out of the ELCA offices located at The Lutheran Center in Chicago and serves the LWF member churches in North America by building connections between and among the churches and connecting the North American churches to the global Lutheran family.

“It has been a great joy and an incredible opportunity to serve on the LWF staff for these past six years,” Magnus says. “I have had the opportunity to see the church at work in so many places and share the powerful stories of our shared mission and ministry with the North American churches. I have been welcomed as a member of the family by the ELCIC and am deeply grateful for the friends and colleagues that have shared in this journey!”

A lay person, Magnus previously served as the vice president of the ELCA, on staff of the ELCA Global Mission Unit and as an assistant to the bishop in the Rocky Mountain Synod (Denver). Magnus is married to Rev. Richard A. Magnus, Executive Director for the ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit, and together they have two adult children and three grandchildren.

—————————————————————–
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.

Material provided through ELCIC Information is intended for reproduction and redistribution by recipients in whatever manner they may find useful.

For more information, please contact:
Trina Gallop, Manager of Communications
302-393 Portage Ave. Winnipeg MB R3B 3H6
204.984.9172
tgallop@elcic.ca

Subscribe or unsubscribe to ELCIC Information by emailing info@elcic.ca with a short message.

Read more