RONEL: Church leaders share signs of hope in the Lutheran communion

This year’s LWF retreat for newly elected heads of churches offered space to reflect on being a leader in different contexts, and sharing practices that drive church engagement, growth and unity.

Leadership: a call to serve and guide

(LWI) - What are the signs of hope among churches across the LWF? What challenges and opportunities do they face, and how do those in leadership deal with such concerns? Reflections around these questions preoccupied a group of 14 Bishops and Presidents of LWF member churches attending this year’s Retreat of Newly Elected Leaders (RONEL), 19-27 November.

Under the theme “Leadership and Episcopal Ministry in the LWF Communion,” they shared about their personal leadership journeys, heard about the different aspects of LWF’s work, and accompanied each other in spiritual renewal through daily prayer and worship. They met at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute and the LWF Communion Office in Geneva until 23 November, and the second part of the retreat continues at the LWF Center in Wittenberg, Germany.

Being church in minority contexts

The heads of churches highlighted challenges and opportunities in contexts where church members are growing rapidly or declining. In group discussions, they concurred that the presence and vibrant witness of a church should not be determined by its size, especially in countries where Christians and Lutherans are a minority. The impact of many LWF churches can be felt in their home communities. Yet, one shared concern is the shortage of ordained pastors, with some pastors assuming responsibility for up to six far-flung congregations.

“The reality is, many churches do not have enough pastors, and they lack capacity to strengthen theological education and the vocation of ordained pastors,” one participant noted. Programs for laity who are equipped to lead were discussed as an important approach to respond to this gap.

Japan Lutheran Church (JLC) Vice-President Rev. Yang Heemae highlighted the ecumenical opportunities for churches in a religious minority context compounded by declining church membership, an ageing population and youth disinterest in the church. With less than two percent of the Japanese population professing Christianity, forging ecumenical relations with other denominations including Anglicans and Catholics, has been particularly important for building unity among churches, she said.

“My heart is always for mission and church planting,” said Bishop Dr A. Christian Samraj, Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, India. He noted that despite existential challenges due to the Hindu government’s oppression of minority faith communities especially Christians, the church is growing, and it had ordained over 70 pastors in the last 10 months. The RONEL participants observed however, that many churches in similar contexts struggle daily with marginalization including lack of education and job opportunities and the fear that the church would “disappear” as its members are continuously threatened to leave.

From isolation to new ideas

The COVID-19 pandemic, its challenges and opportunities were concerns for all the church leaders. Overall, many churches were negatively affected at the onset of the crisis, with many feeling isolated. However, as the use of digital formats became standard practice for preaching and reaching out to more people, and a new sense of freedom set in, “there are also traditions that got broken that have been difficult to rebuild,” one group discussion noted.

For Archbishop Vladimir Provorov, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia, the uptake of online communication during the pandemic helped to reach congregations that are ordinarily hard to reach across the church’s expansive region. But in the post-pandemic period and the political context in the region, preaching the gospel means it is difficult to talk about the truth and accept the reality, he noted.

Bishop Amy Odgren, Northeastern Minnesota Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, highlighted the challenge of putting faith and action into love in a context of polarization of politics, with many people feeling free to express their dissention. “It is profound to show that we can come together, and it is the gospel that unifies us,” she noted, referring to RONEL, and other LWF gatherings such as the Thirteenth Assembly and Pre-Assemblies.

Attention to the people

In one group discussions on key words that best describe a church bishop or president, participants highlighted the leader as: a shepherd, guardian, servant, change agent, theologian, midwife, and gardener who protects, guides and teaches the people of God. “As bishop, I should not be on the throne because of my theological training. I went in to [study] be a pastor, being a bishop is just an extra task,” one church leader remarked in the discussion that emphasized service, integrity, compassion and attention to the people.

Supporting the church’s holistic mission

“Together with my colleagues, we have spent the last days carefully listening to the leaders so that our programs continue to meet the churches’ needs and effectively support the holistic mission within the communion,” said Rev. Katariina Kiilunen, LWF Program Executive for Capacity Building and Leadership Development.

Kiilunen and LWF Regional Secretaries Rev. Dr Samuel Dawai (Africa) and Rev. Sonia Skupch (Latin America and the Caribbean & North America) are leading the RONEL retreat. During presentations in Bossey and working café sessions at the Communion Office in Geneva, more LWF staff engaged the church leaders in conversations on climate justice, diakonia, communication, and the international humanitarian and development work of the Lutheran communion.