CHICAGO (ELCA) — Leaders of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomed an invitation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) to consider entering into plans with other Christian world communions for a common assembly in the next decade. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, LWF president and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
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1. We, the delegates to the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, give thanks to the Triune God, Father; Son and Holy Spirit, who has brought our churches into living contact and dialogue. By God’s grace we have been enabled to remain together, even when this has not been easy. Considerable efforts have been made to overcome divisions. We are “a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.3 We reaffirm that “the primary purpose of the fellowship of churches in the World Council of Churches is to call one another to visible unity in one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship expressed in worship and in common life in Christ, through witness and service to the world, and to advance towards that unity in order that the world may believe”.4 Our continuing divisions are real wounds to the body of Christ, and God’s mission in the world suffers.

2. Churches in the fellowship of the WCC remain committed to one another on the way towards full visible unity. This commitment is a gift from our gracious Lord. Unity is both a divine gift and calling. Our churches have affirmed that the unity for which we pray, hope, and work is “a koinonia given and expressed in the common confession of the apostolic faith; a common sacramental life entered by the one baptism and celebrated together in one eucharistic fellowship; a common life in which members and ministries are mutually recognised and reconciled; and a common mission witnessing to the gospel of God’s grace to all people and serving the whole of creation”.5 Such koinonia is to be expressed in each place, and through a conciliar relationship of churches in different places. We have much work ahead of us as together we seek to understand the meaning of unity and catholicity, and the significance of baptism.
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La Journée internationale pour l’élimination de la discrimination raciale est mars 21, l’anniversaire du massacre à Sharpeville en 1960.
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The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is March 21, the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.
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Les assemblées du COE ont adopté des textes qui proposaient une vision — ou précisaient les qualités — de « l’unité que nous recherchons ». L’Assemblée de Porto Alegre, au Brésil, est invitée à étudier et à adopter la présente invitation adressée aux Églises.
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WCC assemblies have adopted texts offering a vision, or identifying the qualities, of “the unity we seek”. This assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is invited to consider and adopt the present invitation to the churches.
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[Toronto • February 19, 2006] The Muslim Canadian Congress has condemned attacks on Churches in Pakistan and Nigeria that have led to the death of 15 Christians, including women and children. In an appeal to Muslims across the world, the Muslim Canadian Congress is urging them to resist the temptation of participating in public demonstrations
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Prominent national Canadian Muslim organizations and umbrella groups have signed an unprecedented statement praising Canada’s collective response to the cartoon controversy, saying Canada has “made Canadian Muslims proud.” “Despite a few small occurrences, Canada’s collective response to this controversy has allowed us to overcome this crisis and strengthen our democracy,” says Dr. Tyseer Aboulnasr, a
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[Toronto • 17.2.2006] The United Church of Canada has sent a letter to the Islamic Council of Imams expressing the church’s “deepest regret that the name of Muhammad has been so tragically misused in the depictions of cartoons first published in Europe, but now also in Canada.” The letter strongly condemns the publication of the
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[Porto Alegré, Brazil • 14.02.2006] Christians and Muslims should work together to “put out the fire” caused by the controversial publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed, according to Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches. The publication of the cartoons, which first appeared last year in a Danish paper
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Is resistance futile? The Church, Empire, and Post-9/11 Global Orders The St. Andrew’s College Winter Refresher is February 5 to 8, 2006. Theme speaker is Mark Lewis Taylor, professor of theology and culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. Additional workshops will be offered, and the whole experience can be taken as a one credit-hour course with
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We have had volunteer help in getting our library re-catalogued from the Dewey Decimal system to the Library of Congress (LC) system. There are about 2,000 books, most of which are available for borrowing for 1 month, on a number of ecumenical and interfaith topics. Besides some videos, we also have a vertical file on
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Our director, Rev. Dr. Jan Bigland-Pritchard, is available about once a month to preach in various churches. She will bring a message on Christian unity and reconciliation that will be of great benefit to all. If you wish to have her speak in your church, give us a call to arrange a date. Dates are
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