Lutheran president pleads for unity despite sexuality differences

            “It is not the time for further traditions of Lutheranism to emerge in the world. We have to find unity,” the LWF president, Bishop Mark Hanson, pleaded in a July 21 address.

            Hanson, who is also the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, was speaking after conflicts had surfaced between some churches from the African continent and Western churches on the role of homosexuals in the Church. In recent months, the LWF’s second-biggest member church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, has stated its opposition to same-sex marriage and churches that support such unions.

            The LWF president diverted from his prepared speech to delegates at the 11th Lutheran World Federation assembly, meeting in Stuttgart July 20-27, to launch his appeal for unity.

            “I am deeply concerned that we are on the precipice of a time where the rich tradition of Lutheran theology is used to divide Lutherans among themselves,” said Hanson.

            Looking ahead to 2017, which will celebrate the start of the Reformation 500 years ago and the role played by Martin Luther, Hanson added, “As we approach 2017, it should not become a celebration of division but of our rich diversity.”

            Hanson expressed his concerns about the Lutheran world community in a time when churches in the southern hemisphere are continuing to grow while churches in Europe and North America are losing members.

            Speaking about his own U.S. church, he said that 95 percent of its membership is white, and does not mirror the multi-cultural society of the United States. The average age of the church members is well above the average for the population as a whole, Hanson explained.
 

            “We need to continue to address issues of leadership, decision making, and sustainability,” the LWF president added.
 

            “This radically inclusive communion will face the challenge of supporting churches in the South, [and] developing accessible and contextual models of leadership development for their rapidly growing churches,” said Hanson.

            “Northern member churches can learn much about how important the training of lay evangelists and catechists is to the growth and renewal of the church,” the LWF president told 400 delegates and other guests. “We need you to teach us.”

 
            In his report, the LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko, pointed out that there is a five-year period of consultation, ending in 2012, between member churches dealing with questions of human sexuality.

            After Noko’s speech, Tanzanian Lutheran Bishop Elisa Buburwa supported

Noko’s advice not to deal with this issue in the current assembly.

 

            In what appeared to be a call to wait until the LWF has finished its consultation process on sexuality, Buburwa urged the assembly to be patient.

            “We will submit a report as agreed in 2012. There is no need for individual members of the LWF to deal with this matter harshly,” he said.
 

            Noko said afterwards, “There is no tension but a lot of anxiety.”

            Earlier, Hanson had said that he hoped the LWF legacy will be one of reconciliation. “In our polarized world, in which the divisive voices of religious extremists seem to dominate, let us as the Lutheran World Federation continue to engage in what just may be the most courageous of all prophetic acts – the act of reconciliation,” he said.

            Hanson was elected president of the LWF in 2003. His successor is due to be elected at the Stuttgart assembly.