From left to right, standing: LWF Vice President Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, LWF President Bishop Henrik Stubkjær and LWF Director of Theology, Mission and Justice Rev. Dr Sivin Kit, with Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor Koko Kondo at the Sant’Egidio meeting. Photo: Sant’Egidio
Lutheran representatives among religious and political leaders gathered in Rome to discuss challenges of peacemaking
(LWI) - Leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are taking part this week in an international peace summit organized by the Rome-based Sant’Egidio community. The 26-28 October gathering of hundreds of religious leaders, politicians, social scientists and civil society representatives includes prayers for peace in and around Rome’s ancient Colosseum and a concluding address by Pope Leo XIV.
LWF’s President, Bishop Henrik Stubkjær, the Vice-President for Central Western Europe, Bishop Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, and the Director of Theology Mission and Justice, Rev. Dr Sivin Kit, are among the many speakers on panels discussing different aspects of the theme ‘Daring Peace’. The Sant’Egidio community, which is present in over 70 countries around the world, focuses its activities on prayer, service to the poor and working for peace.
At a panel entitled ‘The Europe of Tomorrow,’ President Stubkjær spoke of the urgent need for Europeans to be "brave and vigilant in standing for freedom, dignity and service to those in need." Politicians and church leaders, he said, have a shared task "to enable participation, build trust in society, challenge injustice, to discover and nurture signs of hope and to empower people in need.”
The LWF leader noted that the world is facing unprecedented challenges including the climate emergency, growing inequality and polarization, and a paradigm shift in the global agenda from international development and cooperation to militarization and separatism. Politicians, he said, must stand together to tackle both the climate and security agendas, “with an emphasis on sustainability and the defense of democracy and freedom.”
Churches in Europe must strengthen the commitment to Christian unity and religious dialogue.
LWF President Bishop Henrik Stubkjær
Churches in Europe, he continued, must “strengthen the commitment to Christian unity and religious dialogue” to reinforce their work for just peace, freedom and hope. They must increase their common humanitarian aid, strengthen their advocacy and public voice, and “proclaim Christian hope” through action for a just, peaceful and reconciled world. In particular, he noted, “if we want real changes towards peace, we need to create more space for youth and women” in the leadership and decision making of the churches.
Witnessing to the truth of God’s love
At a panel on ‘Resisting Evil: The Contemporary Martyrs’, Rev. Dr Sivin Kit reflected on the ways in which the Christian symbol of the Cross can be exploited and misused, rather than standing as a sign of peace and hope. Noting that the original Greek word ‘martyr’ meant simply a witness, he highlighted that before meaning “dying for your faith, it meant living for truth.” Today’s martyrs, he said, are those “who see injustice and can’t stay silent. They experience God’s love and must share it.”
Kit gave examples of recent Lutheran martyrs who remained faithful and shared the gospel, even at the cost of their lives. Gudina Tumsa, theologian and former executive general secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, who was murdered during the military dictatorship of the 1970s, and Madagascan lay leader Hélène Ralivao, who was killed in 2020 for her commitment to women’s education and empowerment. In her tireless work to combat violence against women, Kit said, “she represents countless women across Africa and beyond who bear witness at great cost.” LWF’s Hélène Ralivao Fund, set up in her name “is part of [our] witnessing for just relations in our world,” he said.
He also reflected, not just on individuals, but whole communities that “carry the cross together.” He recalled the suffering of people in Ukraine, the Palestinian territories, Nigeria, Myanmar, and other countries where Christians face violence, restrictions or other challenges, yet continue “bearing witness to the cross, testifying to God’s love, even when it is dangerous.” Quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer, seen by many as a martyr for his resistance to Nazism, Kit affirmed that contemporary martyrs witness to the truth “not that suffering is good, but that God is present in it” and that love can transform violence.
Poverty is a question of faith
Speaking at a panel entitled ‘An Unequal World: What Alternatives?’, Vice-President Bishop Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, pointed to “the great paradox of our time: we live in an increasingly wealthy world in which there are more and more poor people.” Emphasizing the urgency of global solutions, she said “a world that thinks only within national borders will fail in the face of global problems.” Churches and faith communities must stand and act together, she stressed, noting the ‘local to global’ dimensions of LWF’s advocacy work for human rights and participation, peace and reconciliation, and climate justice and sustainability.
Kühnbaum-Schmidt, who also serves as chair of the LWF’s German National Committee, insisted that “poverty is not just a social issue. It is a question of faith,” calling us “to consider how we want to be Church in this world.” As people of faith, she said, our actions should promote relationships, encounters and community. “Genuine peace and genuine justice arise when we listen to one another, learn from one another and act together – as churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and civil society groups, as a global community,” she concluded.
