ELCA Visitors Greet, Learn from Nordic, German Lutherans

The trip was an ecumenical visit. But it was more than that too. The hosts taught the visitors about hospitality; theirs was as warm and inviting as the ever-present candles and flowers at dinners and in meeting rooms.
Excited about this historic visit, the hosts created itineraries designed for mutual learning. They planned activities, worship services, resource-sharing meetings and visits to congregations and to historic and social ministry sites.
The 15 visitors, sometimes jet-lagged, sometimes exhausted by the pace, still maintained an enthusiasm that built with each new experience and conversation. Such was the nature of the first ecumenical trip from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to Nordic and German churches.
"We tend to see ourselves as a junior partner in relation to the older state churches of Europe, but this trip taught us that they see us as an important ally and leader in matters ranging from church life to the direction of the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches," said ELCA Presiding Bishop H. George Anderson, Chicago, after the trip.
The Rev. Daniel F. Martensen, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, underscored that. The visit represented two years of planning by the partner churches and his office, and the delegation comprised a different group than most ecumenical visits, Martensen said.
"Never before has a delegation included experts on youth work, evangelism, global mission, stewardship, church-state relations, multicultural ministries and communication," he said, adding that the churches in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany asked for such representation.
While state churches face some challenges the ELCA doesn't, many issues are the same. In fact, the Church of Norway released a document on homosexuality during the visit with its representatives and those of the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church -- a church body born out of protest against a state church.
"This issue has tortured and tormented our church for a long time," said the Rev. Erling J. Pettersen, director general, Church of Norway's national council. "Tomorrow we'll see how the church will react."
Norwegian law permits gay unions although the Church of Norway does not. "This isn't an issue," said the Rev. Odd Bondevik, presiding bishop and head of the Bishops' Conference. "This is about people. We haven't always been able to have a dialogue. We need to think about our way of discussing this."
Another Church of Norway bishop, the Rev. Sigurd Osberg, added, "We two bishops disagree but have been working on this. We disagree on the use of the Bible texts and their interpretation. It isn't a question of who follows the Bible and who doesn't."
Then there's social ministry. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark arranged site visits for the ELCA delegation to social ministries for youth and education, for immigrants and cross-cultural work, and for addicts, homeless people and prostitutes.
The Rev. Lise Vognstrup, a Lutheran pastor and social worker in Copenhagen, told some of the ELCA visitors, "People thought there would be no work for the church in a society with a good social security net, but several people fall through the cracks. Now there's more than we can do. But this is evangelization in action. It's not just preaching in words." Vognstrup told of all the volunteers who work in ministries for prostitutes, addicts and homeless people.
In Germany Bishop Christian Krause of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick told the visitors, "We need to have a culture of mercy. The church is the only place to remember those who are sick and weak. Because of this, it's important to get along with the Roman Catholic Church, with whom we share about equal numbers."
Krause sees importance in churches working together in society. He is president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) -- a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. The ELCA is a member of the LWF.

A PLURALISTIC SUPERMARKET
Archbishop Jukka Paarma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland underscored societal changes mentioned in all the host churches. "We're facing a multicultural, pluralistic society. Some of our members wander through the different faiths like they would in a supermarket, picking up things from the shelves that suit their own life.
"Our church is one among many different values. We are in an increasingly competitive situation. This gives the church a big challenge to grow spiritually stronger."
In the Church of Sweden, communication staff reported on strategies to help congregations reach out to "seekers" and make people who aren't from the Lutheran tradition feel welcome in the church.
In Norway, Pettersen said, "It's more than lutefisk and lefse here. We have worship traditions that incorporate charismatic, Anglican and other influences."
For the Nordic churches, which enjoy high membership figures because of their historical state church status, worship attendance is a challenge. While 85 percent of Danes are members of the Lutheran church, the delegation learned that about 3 to 4 percent of Denmark's Lutherans attend worship. The numbers are similar in Finland, Sweden and Norway.
Margrethe Vestager, Denmark's minister of ecclesiastical affairs, said, "Figures don't tell the whole story. Members come to church meetings, they're baptized, confirmed, married and buried from the church. And some of the values of the church are internalized within the Danish people. However, Danes are basically shy about talking of their faith. It would be easier to speak of their sex life."
Cooperation among denominations and various ecumenical agreements were also part of the discussion mix. In Finland the ELCA delegation visited the town of Porvoo. There the group met with diocesan leaders, who said Finnish Lutherans are holding regular theological conferences with Anglicans as they live out the Porvoo Declaration issued in 1993. That document brought together Nordic and Baltic Lutherans with British and Irish Anglicans.
In Helsinki Lutherans and Anglicans spoke of raising the questions that arise from Porvoo: What does it mean to be together as Anglicans and Lutherans? They spoke of "drawing on the richness of both traditions to build a common identity while still keeping their own."
Everywhere the ELCA group went, questions arose about Called to Common Mission, the ELCA's full communion proposal with The Episcopal Church, and other ecumenical agreements. It became clear, as Martensen said, that our sister churches are "following with great interest the recent and current decisions being made on the establishment of full communion with a wide range of ecumenical partners."
The ELCA is in relationships of full communion with the Moravian Church in America, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America and United Church of Christ.

ATTRACTING YOUTH
Krause asked a question all Lutheran churches ask, "How can we bring youth back to the church?"
A parish institute in Celle, Germany, which sees itself as a "service station for congregational renewal," offers courses on how parents and children can live their faith at home. Youth work at St. Peter's Church in Dohren, Germany, includes learning how to talk about their faith.
The Finnish church provides church camps where youth go as part of their confirmation instruction. In Norway youth choirs draw many youth back to the church.
Changes in church and society bring new challenges for the Nordic and German churches. The fall of the wall in Germany in 1989 created new possibilities, said the Rev. Antje Heider-Rottwilm, a pastor who works with the Evangelical Church in Germany.
"We're involved