LONDON (ELCA) -- Lutherans in Great Britain are a diverse denomination, consisting of multiple communities established by people from other European countries, said the Rev. Tom Bruch, general secretary, Lutheran Council of Great Britain. Bruch spoke March 29 here to an ecumenical delegation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), noting that Lutherans have been in this country since the 17th century.
The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, and 18 other ELCA leaders, bishops, Church Council members, pastors, staff and church members made up the delegation. The ELCA group also met here with leaders of the Anglican Communion and Church of England. The delegation traveled with Hanson as he met international church leaders in Europe during a 17-day "ecumenical journey" March 14-31.
The Lutheran Council was established in 1948 to work with Lutheran communities. People from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden established their own Lutheran congregations here, Bruch said. Today, Lutheran Council congregations have a total of 40 clergy, with as many as 100,000 baptized Lutherans on the rolls, he said.
"The main glue which holds these communities together is language and culture," Bruch said.
The Lutheran Council, with representation from each of the Lutheran communities here, provides financial and practical support to congregations, educational and spiritual programs, mission support, ecumenical representation and cooperation, communication, chaplaincy services and conference facilities.
The council's most significant ministry is its International Lutheran Student Center here, which provides housing to some 80 postgraduate students, most of whom attend the University of London, Bruch said.
In recent years, international ecumenical agreements have helped gain some visibility for the small Lutheran community here. For example, the 1999 signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) in which the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican reached agreement on the meaning of justification, made a difference for British Lutherans, Bruch said.
"The JDDJ gave Lutherans a legitimacy in Great Britain they never had before," he told the ELCA delegation.
In addition, many Lutheran clergy are invited to lead worship in Anglican congregations -- with local permission -- because of a full communion agreement between Lutherans in several European countries and the Church of England, said the Rev. Lennart Sjostrom, a Lutheran pastor from Sweden who chairs the Lutheran Council. The Church of England is part of the international Anglican Communion. Sjostrom was recently named an honorary canon of St. Paul's (Anglican) Cathedral here.
The Rev. Jennifer Welsh, an Anglican priest, was recently called to serve as Lutheran student chaplain for the Lutheran Council.
Following a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral, the ELCA delegation attended a special worship service March 29 at the Lutheran Church of St. Anne and St. Agnes. The English-speaking congregation worships in a building that was consecrated in 1680.
The space is shared with people who worship in Ethiopian languages and the languages of nations in East Africa. Estonian and Latvian Lutheran congregations also worship there.
At the special English service Hanson preached; the Rev. Walter Jagucki, bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, presided. Assisting were the Rev. Dale Gingrich, the Rev. Jana Jeruma-Grinberga and the Rev. Barnabas Daniel.
PRESIDING BISHOP REFLECTS ON TRIP
The ELCA delegation concluded its visits to European church leaders March 30 by attending Evensong, a regular worship service here at Westminister Abbey. Most members of the delegation returned to the United States March 31.
The trip gave Hanson and other ELCA leaders an opportunity to meet with international church leaders in Geneva, Switzerland, Rome and London. At every location the topics included with Iraq war, which began while the ELCA group was in Switzerland.
Hanson said he will "never forget" being in Geneva when war with Iraq began. "We gathered for worship and prayer with representatives in the United Nations and our ecumenical partners, to again pray for the peace of the whole world and the unity of all," he said. The 17-day journey gave Hanson a chance to experience "in the totality of my being" what he had read or heard about, Hanson said. "I have experienced in much deeper and richer ways the unity that we have as the body of Christ, " he said. "In many respects I have been changed because that for which I pray, the peace of the world and the unity of all, has literally been a gift that I have received by virtue of this trip," he added. Accompanying Hanson and his wife, Ione, on the trip were: Linda J. Brown, ELCA Church Council member, Fargo, N.D.; the Rev. Joseph G. Crippen, ELCA Church Council member, Northfield, Minn.; the Rev. Jon S. Enslin, interim associate director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; Eileen Heffner, assistant to the director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; the Rev. David E. Jensen, Ascension Lutheran Church, Minocqua, Wis.; the Rev. Randall R. Lee, director, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago; Kathy J. Magnus, regional officer for North America, Lutheran World Federation, Chicago; the Rev. Donald J. McCoid, bishop, ELCA Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod, Pittsburgh, and chair, ELCA Conference of Bishops; the Rev. Marcus J. Miller, bishop, ELCA Northeastern Ohio Synod, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Arthur Norman, Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Houston; the Rev. Fred S. Opalinski, Church Council member, Latrobe, Pa.; the Rev. Karen S. Parker, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Pacifica Synod, Yorba Linda, Calif.; Earlene Reeder, assistant to the bishop, ELCA Southeast Michigan Synod, Detroit; the Rev. Paul A. Schreck, executive assistant, ELCA Office of the Secretary and associate for bilateral dialogues, ELCA Department for Ecumenical Affairs, Chicago. The Rev. Lowell G. Almen, ELCA secretary, joined the group for meetings in Rome and London. The Rev. Timothy F. Lull, president, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, Calif., and his wife, Mary Carlton-Lull, joined the delegation for meetings in Rome. Reporting on the trip were John R. Brooks, director for news and media production, ELCA Department for Communication, and the Rev. David L. Miller, editor of The Lutheran, the magazine of the ELCA. -- -- -- The Department for Ecumenical Affairs has its home page at http://www.elca.org/ea on the ELCA Web site.
The text of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and
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on the Web.
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
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