LCMSNews #99-5
Jan. 15, 1999

Although The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod is not a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the church body was represented at the WCC's Eighth Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe, last month.

LCMS President A.L. Barry sent Dr. Samuel H. Nafzger, executive director of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations, to the Dec. 3-14 assembly as the Synod's official observer.

"I think it is important that we were there," Nafzger said. "We made a lot of contacts. The Missouri Synod is known and appreciated by many church bodies around the world, even by non-Lutherans."

Nafzger said that perhaps the most significant action at the assembly was its backing for creation of a new "Forum of Christian Churches and Ecumenical Organizations." The idea is to bring more Christian churches and organizations to ecumenical discussions without the necessity of membership in the WCC.

"It bears our watching as the WCC makes steps toward creating a forum as a possible way to involve non-member churches," Nafzger said. "It could be an opportunity for us in the LCMS to make a witness to our confessional position on a variety of issues, such as the ordination of women and homosexuality, currently under debate around the world."

The World Council of Churches marked its 50th anniversary at the Eighth Assembly. Nearly 1,000 delegates and 4,000 observers and visitors attended the 12-day meeting.

"The spirit and general tenor of the discussions recognized the declining role of institutions everywhere and, certainly, that the WCC as a formal institution is not what it was envisioned to be in 1948," Nafzger said. "The approval of the forum is a recognition of this."

Nafzger said he is preparing a report on the meeting for President Barry.

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This news release is published by the News and Information Division, Board for Communication Services, of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Free subscriptions to this service are available by sending an electronic mail message to mailserv@crf.cuis.edu and include the words SUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS in the body of your message. To unsubscribe, send the message UNSUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS to the same mailserv address. For more information, contact Paula Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or at (314) 965-9000.

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