Choir sings during the opening service of the Lutheran World Federation European Church Leadership Consultation taking place in Riga, Latvia, gathering some 80 church leaders from Central Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe, and the Nordic Countries, under the theme "Embodying hope, making the difference". Photo: A. Hillert/LWF
Church leaders from across Europe gather in Riga to begin journey towards next LWF Assembly in Augsburg in 2030
(LWI) - Lutheran church leaders from across the European continent are gathering in the Latvian capital, Riga, for a four-day meeting focused on the theme of ‘Embodying hope, making the difference’. The 6 to 9 October European Church Leadership Consultation is organized by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in cooperation with two of its member churches, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia and the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Worldwide.
LWF’s General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt will address the opening session, while the Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations Prof. Dirk Lange will lead participants in discussions on what it means to be “a confessing church,” as the global communion of churches looks ahead to the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession in 2030. Latvian anthropologist Professor Aivita Putniņa will give a keynote address reflecting on embodying hope from a socio-anthropological perspective.
Participants will gather for a Holy Communion service in the medieval church of St John’s in the heart of the old town, where Archbishop Kārlis Žols of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Worldwide will preach and Archbishop Rinalds Grants of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia will preside. A second Eucharistic celebration will take place on Tuesday in Riga's Luther Academy, where theologians, teachers, musicians and other church workers are trained for ministry.
We are beginning [our] journey looking forward to celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.
Rev. Dr Ireneusz Lukas, LWF Regional Secretary for Europe
The meeting offers opportunities to learn about the life and witness of the Lutheran churches in Latvia, a nation which was occupied by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union until it regained independence in 1991. Participants will visit the national parliament (Saeima), as well as the Museum of Occupation and the National Library, which is marking the 500th anniversary of the first books printed and published in the Latvian language.
LWF’s Regional Secretary for Europe, Rev. Dr Ireneusz Lukas noted that the church leaders are gathering at a key moment as the global communion of churches begins its preparations for the Fourteenth LWF Assembly which will be held in Augsburg, Germany in 2030. “We are at the beginning of that journey as we look forward to celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession,” he said.
“We are delighted to be welcoming some of our young leaders who have just concluded a European youth meeting in Paris, focused on being peacemakers in times of war and conflict, a theme which is very relevant for many of the churches represented here in Riga,” Lukas added. “This consultation provides an important opportunity for church leaders from different generations and from different contexts in Western and Eastern Europe and the Nordic region, to share hopes and listen to each other's experiences of witnessing to the gospel values of peace and service to neighbor in these polarized and troubled times,” he concluded.
