Conference Proposes Platform for Global Development Cooperation

Religion and Development Belong Together

The recent global conference on religion and development jointly organized by The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the German mission agency Mission Eine Welt has called for the establishment of an interactive platform to enhance cooperation between churches, faith-based aid organizations and academic institutions.

The 21-25 October meeting of more than 20 faith-based development agencies from Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America and Africa, heads of Lutheran churches, theologians from universities and church-based development practitioners was held in Neuendettelsau, southern Germany. This was the first time the LWF and its partners had brought together so many key players from development and religion for such intense discussion on development.

Rev. Michael Martin, head of Ecumenical Affairs at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, told Lutheran World Information (LWI) that the outcome of this conference was “very positive and I see it as a starting point for wider cooperation. We already have cooperation, but not in this wide range.” He said it is now “the task of the LWF to create a network of which we will be part.”

In his opening remarks, Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, director of the LWF Department for World Service, had encouraged participants to seek a shared understanding about the important relation between development and religion in responding to human need.

During the conference the need for closer cooperation emerged as participants heard a mix of speakers from academia, churches and global and local development practitioners. The case studies on the role of faith communities in peace building and development in China, Costa Rica, Liberia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe particularly stood out.

Some challenges were also mentioned. Rev. Dr Johnson Mbillah from the Program for Christian – Muslim Relations in Africa (PROCMURA) noted that religious extremism was a reality, and therefore urged caution so that emphasis is on dialogue and promoting “education and not indoctrination.”

Local Cultures and Religions

Prof. Karel August from the Department of Theology at Stellenbosch University in South Africa stressed the need for genuine ownership of a development model that is informed by local worldviews, cultures and religions. He noted there had been changes in recent years, but still local people were “rarely consulted on what kind of development they want. They have always been the objects of various models, although these have rarely increased their supplies of food or improved the state of their health.”

August’s views were echoed by Latin American participants, who affirmed a new development paradigm based on the indigenous ‘Buen Vivir’ concept which refers to the collective well-being of human beings living in solidarity with one another and with the environment. It was clear from the case studies on Costa Rica and views echoed by participants from other Latin American countries, that the ‘Buen Vivir’ notion was the leading guiding principle for holistic development now preferred in the region.

Dr Vitor Westhelle, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil, emphasized the need to have a development ethos grounded on clear theological traditions. Using Martin Luther’s criticism of the usury as an oppressive economic system, he called on development practitioners to go back to their Lutheran roots to retrieve important insights for development.

A New Paradigm

Reporting back from lively small group discussions, participants expressed the shared need to establish a process of ongoing engagement and deliberate collaboration to strengthen their development efforts. “A Kairos moment,” is how Dr Petri Merenlahti from Finn Church Aid, the development aid agency of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, described the LWF-Mission Eine Welt conference. “Times are changing and we need a new paradigm. There is so much duplication, lack of coordination; we are losing ground because we fail to work well together,” he added.

Citing religious institutions’ contributions to the peace building process in Sierra Leone after the 1990s civil war, Lutheran Bishop Thomas J. Barnett said the establishment of the global cooperation platform “is long overdue.”

Dr Theresa Carino Chong from the Amity Foundation, which caters for the needs of disadvantaged members of Chinese society, echoed similar sentiments. “Very often when we do development work, there is not much theological reflection and there is not much reflection on the work that goes back to the churches. And I think that kind of flow, the interaction with the churches is very important so that development work is not done so far away from the churches.”

The conference participants tasked the LWF to coordinate a five-year process of a global interactive platform on development cooperation. In order to strengthen the regional character of this initiative, the LWF was also asked to facilitate regional consultations in Africa, Asia and Latin America, so that local reflections can inform this process.

For Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata at the LWF Department for Theology and Public Witness, which jointly organized the event with Mission Eine Welt’s Department for Mission and Intercultural Studies, “the conference has been both a challenge and an opportunity for faith-based organizations to see the potential for mobilizing their wide variety of resources on the global development agenda.”

He reiterated a view shared by many participants about the added value of faith-based organizations as development practitioners. “They have constituents in their regular places of worship, have longstanding traditions of their faith, and have history on their side since their religious traditions have always sought to take care of those in need as far back as we know.”

(Written for LWI by Berlin-based journalist Anli Serfontein)

Read more from the conference: http://www.lutheranworld.org/lwf/index.php/tag/religion-and-development