German Lutheran Official Reports Poor Economic Conditions in Germany

PHILADELPHIA (ELCA) -- Economic problems in Germany have created conditions ripe for right-wing extremism and challenges for the church, a German Lutheran official told the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America here Aug 14-20.
The Rev. Helmut Edelmann, ecumenical officer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany, reported that unemployment has reached as high as 20 percent in some areas of eastern Germany. The historic Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in that country have issued a "strong warning" over the gap between rich and poor, between those with housing and those who are homeless.
The church, too, is facing problems as a result of economic conditions, Edelmann said. He said extremists have burned down a church building and are harassing a bishop. Although the state churches receive funds from church taxes, they also depend on offerings from church members. But income through offerings is decreasing rapidly, and the church is unable to employ students of theology as it once did. The result is "a new situation for evangelization and mission," Edelmann said.
The German church official, one of more than a dozen "ecumenical guests" invited to the assembly, also encouraged the ELCA in its ecumenical endeavors. The assembly, meeting here through Wednesday, has had three major ecumenical proposals -- with three Reformed church bodies, the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church -- before it.

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