Participants pose for a group photo during the 6 to 9 October European Church Leadership Consultation at the Luther Academy in Riga, Latvia. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
European church leaders explore ways of being signs of hope within polarized societies
(LWI) - “As church leaders, we witnessed the great diversity of our Lutheran communion, even within our three European regions.” At the conclusion of a European Church Leadership Consultation in Latvia, participants shared the joys and difficulties they experience in encountering diverse understandings and practice of Lutheran identity. They also expressed profound gratitude that the meeting succeeded in bringing together people of different backgrounds and beliefs to discuss, to pray, to listen, and to discern ways of embodying hope within polarized societies.
The 6 to 9 October gathering, held in Riga’s Luther Academy, was organized by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Worldwide. Reflecting on the theme of ‘Embodying Hope, Making the Difference’, leaders of churches from across Central Eastern, Central Western and the Nordic region explored what it means to be a confessing communion as they look forward to celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 2030.
Following an opening address from LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt participants heard from Assistant General Secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Dirk Lange, who highlighted connections between the upcoming Augsburg celebration and this year’s 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. Noting that both the Nicaean Creed and the Augsburg Confession were written in specific historical, political, and religious contexts, Lange stressed that both of them “challenge us to find an appropriate language for our current context.” Church leaders at the Council of Nicaea, he explained, were discerning a new way to confess the gospel in their day, as they were confronted by “misleading theologies.” A confession, he added, resists “the temptation to repristinate a past era.”
LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations, Prof. Dirk Lange gives a presentation at the European Church Leadership Consultation in Riga, Latvia. Photo: LWF/A. Hillert
Rev. Dr Arnfríður Guðmundsdóttir, LWF vice-president for the Nordic region (right) and Bishop Tamás Fabiny, LWF vice-president for Central Eastern Europe (left) lead a Eucharist service during the European Church Leadership Consultation in Riga. Photo: LWF/A. Hillert
Bishop Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, vice-president for Central Western Europe, speaks at the European Church Leadership Consultation. Photo: LWF/A. Hillert
Similarly, the Augsburg Confession restates “the ancient faith of the church,” Lange said, while placing “God’s justifying act in Jesus Christ at the center of all life, all doctrine, even at the heart of the church.” This confessional identity shapes our understanding of what it means to be a communion,” he noted, “not as an identity marker that creates boundaries or divisions, but as a generous ecumenical proposal to the whole church.” He said church leaders today are called to approach critical and divisive questions through the lens of “God’s in-breaking, God’s act of justification” which “both liberates and transforms.”
Group discussions touched on some of the divisive issues facing all the churches today, including questions of gender justice, equality and the ordination of women. Participants noted that hope can be ambivalent when convictions of identity and dignity come into conflict with each other. General Secretary Burghardt reflected: “We have witnessed the great diversity of our LWF communion, even within our European region. This experience invites us into a deeper listening, requiring us to address misleading theologies, while calling us into an attitude of generosity and empathy in our confession of faith.”
We need to come together and help each other to understand what it means to be a hopeful community
Rev. Dr Arnfrídur Gudmundsdóttir, LWF vice president for the Nordic region
LWF vice president for the Nordic region, Rev. Prof. Dr Arnfríður Guðmundsdóttir, underlined the important task of churches in addressing their own challenges in order to bring hope to wider societies. “There are a lot of people today who have a hard time seeing a hopeful future,” she said. “That's why we need to come together and help each other to understand what it means to be a hopeful community, a place where people can come and belong, where they can feel energized and encouraged to go out and face their own daily challenges.”
Bishop Tamás Fabiny, vice president for Central and Eastern Europe, highlighted the significance of holding this consultation in the Baltic region, where Russia’s war against Ukraine remains a key concern for neighboring countries. “Many people are experiencing a fear of becoming involved in the war,” he said, therefore “the responsibility of the church is really to speak for peace and reconciliation.”
Bishop Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, vice president for Central and Western Europe, noted that across the European region “tensions are emerging in a new way, with polarization and conflicts between rich and poor people.” She said: “It is good that we can gather to talk and confess together, to sing and pray together, to be a communion over the borders of countries. And that really is a sign of hope.”
