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Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church

German Lutherans declare fellowship with Latvia

Participants at SELK’s Synod in Gotha.

GERMANY – The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch Lutherische Kirche – SELK) of Germany held the first meeting of its 15th Synod in Gotha from June 13-17, during which time the church declared fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (Latvijas Evaņģēliski Luteriskā Baznīca – LELB).

SELK Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt greeted the declaration of fellowship with joy. “Such ecclesial communion is a gift that we can only gratefully state and accept,” he said. “The relationship between our churches has grown steadily over the past three decades. We are united in our commitment to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as well as to the Book of Concord, because in it the doctrine of the Lutheran Church is faithfully presented.”

Bishop Voigt went on to say that SELK wants to continue working to deepen ecclesiastical relations between the two churches, particularly by bringing congregations and church ministries into greater contact with one another than has been the case in the past.

The LELB’s Rev. Andris Kraulins addresses SELK’s synod in Gotha.

Rev. Andris Kraulins, head of the LELB’s department for international affairs, was also present as a guest at SELK’s Synod in Gotha. Our relationship with SELK began almost 30 years ago,” he noted. “During these years, we have been by each other’s side in joys and sorrows. We have learned from each other and strengthened each other in faith.”

“We at LELB are very happy because we are united with our brothers and sisters of SELK in an even deeper sense,” Rev. Kraulins continued. “Our Lord Christ is pleased that at a time when many are divided and the world emphasizes only the individual needs of each, we are united in Him!”

This was the inaugural meeting of the SELK’s 15th Synod. Additional meetings are scheduled to take place in 2024 and 2025, with the former being an online consultation and the latter being an in-person gathering.

The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia are both member churches of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

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Lutherans in Germany, Latvia, and USA mark special anniversaries

WORLD – While Lutherans across the globe in 2022 are celebrating the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German, several member churches of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) are also marking other important anniversaries this year.


Germany

In 2022, the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche – SELK) of Germany celebrated its 50th anniversary. The church formed on June 25, 1972—coinciding with the commemoration of the Augsburg Confession—when the majority of independent confessional Lutheran churches in Germany merged.

Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt introduces a panel discussion on the SELK’s 50th anniversary.

To mark the anniversary, SELK held a two-day event from June 25-26 on the campus of its seminary in Oberursel, with events including a panel discussion, children’s programming, workshops, concerts, and more. The celebration culminated with a festival service held at St. John’s Church on June 26, with the service also broadcast live online.


Latvia

This year marks both the 500th anniversary of the Reformation’s arrival in Latvia as well as the 100th anniversary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia (Latvijas Evaņģēliski luteriskā Baznīca – LELB). In 1522, the city of Riga—part of what was then called Livonia—became Lutheran when the reformer Andreas Knöpken arrived in the city as its first Lutheran pastor. A conference and festive service were held June 12 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in Latvia. The event was held at St. Peter’s church, which only this year was returned to the LELB by the authorities to serve again as a dedicated church building.

Archbishop Jānis Vanags preaches during the LELB’s 100th anniversary service. (Photo: LELB/U. Muzikanta).

The 100th anniversary of the LELB was marked a little over a month later on July 16. Like the previous event, this commemoration also began with a morning service at St. Peter’s Church in Riga, following which participants marched to the church’s cathedral. Events continued throughout the day at multiple locations, and included musical performances, children’s activities, a film presentation, and much more. The day concluded with a special anniversary service at the cathedral during which two new auxiliary bishops were consecrated.

As part of other anniversary events, the Latvian church is planting oak saplings at congregations and in other locations throughout the country. These saplings have been grown from the acorns of oak trees first planted by Ernst Glück more than 300 years ago. Glück was an important Lutheran theologian who translated the Bible into Latvian in 1694.


United States of America

In the United States, meanwhile, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) is also commemorating an important anniversary in 2022: the 175th anniversary of its founding. On April 26, 2022—175 years to the day since its founding in 1847—the LCMS held a special service of thanksgiving at the LCMS International Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The theme for the anniversary is “Only Jesus: No Other Name,” drawn from Acts 4:12.

President Matthew C. Harrison preaches during the LCMS’ 175th anniversary service.

The LCMS has also provided numerous resources and activities for congregations to celebrate the anniversary in local settings as well, including a special anniversary hymn, worship resources, Bible studies, an art contest for students, resources on LCMS history, and more.

The LCMS, LELB, and SELK are all member churches of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran churches.

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SELK’s Bishop Emeritus, former ILC Vice Chairman, enters into glory

SELK Bishop Emeritus Jobst Schöne. (Image: SELK)

GERMANY – On September 22, 2021, Rev. Dr. Jobst Schöne, Bishop Emeritus of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche – SELK) finished his earthly race. He was 89 years old.

The International Lutheran Council’s (ILC) Chairman, Hans-Jörg Voigt, is also Bishop of SELK, and shares the following words on the passing of Dr. Schöne: “Last Tuesday Jobst Schöne called me by phone to say good-bye and farewell. God gave me grace to visit him one last time on Tuesday afternoon with the Body and Blood of Christ. I have never experienced such a clear and peaceful time in the last hours of one’s life. His last words to me were the following: ‘I am not sure, but if there is the possibility during eternal worship, I will pray for you.’ And I answered: ‘Thank you, and I will see you soon!’”

Bishop Voigt continues: “Together with his family we are feeling both sadness and joy together—sadness because we will miss him very much, and joy because we know he has been welcomed into eternity by his Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Schöne was born on October 20, 1931 in Naumburg (Saale). After finishing school, he pursued theological studies at universities and seminaries in Bethel, Tübingen, Oberursel, and Münster. From 1957-1958, he served as an assistant at the Ecumenical Institute in Münster.

He was ordained in 1959 and completed his vicarage in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. He served in Cologne from 1961-1962, before being called as pastor of St. Mary’s Evangelical Lutheran in Berlin-Zehlendorf and Holy Ghost Lutheran in Berlin-Spandau, a position in which he served from 1962-1975.

While serving in Berlin, he would go on to receive a doctorate in theology from the University of Münster in 1968. He later received an honorary doctorate from Concordia Theological Seminary (Fort Wayne, Indiana) in 1978.

From 1973-1985, Dr. Schöne served as superintendent of SELK’s Berlin district. On November 3, 1985, he was elected the national Bishop of SELK, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1996. During his tenure as bishop, Dr. Schöne expanded the ecumenical relations of the SELK, including through his involvement with the International Lutheran Council. He served as a frequent lecturer at ILC events from 1970 on, eventually serving two terms as Vice Chairman (1991-1995) followed by one as secretary. He also oversaw the merger of the Evangelical Lutheran (Old Lutheran) Church—a church body in former East Germany—into SELK in 1991 following German reunification.

Dr. Schöne was the author of several books, and his writing has been collected into two anthologies. In a 1994 pastoral letter, he defended SELK’s adherence to historic Christian teaching in rejecting female ordination.

He continued to teach and lecture in Germany and abroad following his retirement, and continued serving as a preacher and liturgist in local services. He celebrated his 60th ordination anniversary in 2019, where he—at 88 years old—preached and led the liturgy. He continued to preach even thereafter, giving his final sermon only the Sunday before his death.

Dr. Schöne is remembered by his wife, Ingrid, and three children.

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The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany is a member church of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

SELK responds to flooding in Germany

Flooding in Kordel, Germany. (Image: Chz, CC BY-SA 4.0)

GERMANY – Catastrophic flooding in Europe in mid-July destroyed homes and infrastructure in several countries, and led to the deaths of more than 200 people. Germany was particularly hit hard, with at least 170 people dead, many more currently unaccounted for, and widespread damage in the western part of the country.

Infrastructure damage at Königssee following widespread flooding in West Germany. (Image: TheGlobetrotter, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche – SELK) reports that while some members of their church body have been affected by the flooding, none of their church buildings were damaged by the water. One family from the St. Johannes congregation in Cologne, for example, has had to relocate to a hotel due to damage at their home. At a parishioner’s home in Wuppertal, meanwhile, the basement has flooded with rainwater and sewage, though the situation there may be repairable. The full extent of damages incurred by members of SELK congregations is not fully clear at this time, however, as a result of partial communications interruptions.

SELK Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt—who is also Chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC)—has expressed gratitude for the several inquiries he has received from SELK’s partner churches and ILC members. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, for example, offered assistance from their disaster relief fund, but Bishop Voigt explained there did not seem to be a need for interchurch aid at present.

Speaking to selk_news, Bishop Voigt said he was impressed by this expression of worldwide solidarity in prayer for those affected by the flooding and willingness to help. He said this was just as moving and a sign of hope as the people who came to help from neighboring towns in the affected communities with rubber boots and shovels.

Church leadership and the diaconal work of the SELK has invited its congregations and parishioners to support internal relief efforts through an appeal for donations for the victims of the flood disaster.

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With files from selk_news.

A changing of the guard in South Africa as Dr. Winterle retires

Rev. Dr. Carlos Walter Winterle at the ILC’s 2019 World Seminaries Conference in the Philippines.

SOUTH AFRICA – Rev. Dr. Carlos Walter Winterle has announced his retirement as rector of the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Tshwane, Pretoria in South Africa.

Dr. Winterle, who turned 70 earlier this year, said, “It is time to retire and give way to the younger generation.” Succeeding Dr. Winterle as rector of LTS is Rev. Dr. Heinz Hiestermann.

“I thank our God and Father for the opportunity” to have served as rector, Dr. Winterle continued. “It was a huge challenge!”

Dr. Winterle served as President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (Igreja Evangelica Luterana do Brasil – IELB) from 1998-2006. He has spent the next 14 years serving throughout Africa: four years in Kenya; seven in Cape Town, South Africa; and the past three as the rector of LTS in Pretoria. He has also been heavily involved with missions and theological education in Mozambique.

While Dr. Winterle plans to retire home to Brazil when international travel permits, he still hopes to continue serving as coordinator for theological education in Mozambique. “I’m also coordinating projects and doing fundraising for Mozambique missions,” he added. “I hope that I may continue with this special ministry which is so close to my heart, as long as I am able to.”

Rev. Dr. Hans-Jörg Vogt, Chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and Bishop of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch—Lutherische Kirche – SELK), expressed gratitude for the leadership of Dr. Winterle in Tshwane as well as elsewhere in Africa. “Many young African Lutherans have been strongly shaped by his leadership,” Chairman Voigt noted. “May the Holy Spirit also fill the heart of Dr. Heinz Hiestermann as he takes up this new task.”

Rev. Dr. Heinz Hiestermann

Dr. Winterle’s successor, Dr. Hiestermann, holds a PhD in New Testament from the University of Pretoria, and has served as a guest professor at LTS for several years. He has further served full-time as a lecturer and registrar at LTS since the beginning of this year.

“It will be a smooth transition,” Dr. Winterle notes, “as both of us had time to share our experiences and challenges. I wish him God’s blessing for this special ministry.”

The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane, Pretoria is an institution operating under the joint governance of the Lutheran Church in South Africa (LCSA); the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA); and the Bleckmar Mission, which is associated with Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church.

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COVID-19 and ILC Churches in Germany and Nicaragua

WORLD – Lutherans across the world continue to respond to the COVID-19 crisis with spiritual and physical care. In this post, we highlight the response of member churches of the International Lutheran Council in Germany and Nicaragua.

Germany

Bethlehem Church in Hanover, Germany live-streams the divine service.

Germany has reported 183,564 cases of COVID-19, with 8,605 deaths. The country acted quickly to enact lockdown measures after the disease began to spread, leading to the closure of schools, the closure of national borders, and the imposition of curfews and stay-home orders in various parts of the country. Restrictions were also placed on church gatherings. Recently, some of these pandemic containment measures have begun to be relaxed.

From the beginning of the crisis, Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche – SELK) has worked hard to provide continued pastoral care to members in unusual circumstances. A special crisis group was struck to provide pastors and congregations guidance and assistance about how to deal with the situation, as well as offering comfort and spiritual guidance. Churches moved quickly to offer services and other programs online, as well as offering services over the phone for older parishioners. Devotional resources for holding home services have also been made available.

“All the things that developed in our congregations with the various online services are a cause for much gratitude,” noted SELK Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt. “How many possibilities are suddenly arising in our congregations which⁠—without this insidious virus⁠—we would likely never have thought of.” Bishop Voigt is also Chairman of the International Lutheran Council.

The SELK was clear from the beginning the Lord’s Supper could not be consecrated online. Some churches have been able to resume in-church services since May 17, albeit with reduced numbers of parishioners, so pastors are working hard to administer communion to members who have gone without—sometimes conducting two or three services each Sunday in order to accommodate the reduced number of participants allowed to attend each service.

In this time of turmoil, Bishop Voigt encourages Christians to take comfort in the words of Jesus Christ: “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“In these days,” Bishop Voigt comments, “may this promise be our strong consolation.”

Nicaragua

The ILSN shares a message for Easter Sunday via social media.

Nicaragua currently reports 370 cases of COVID-19 and 35 deaths. The country has refrained from mandating the social distancing and quarantine measures common in other parts of the world.

The Lutheran Church Synod of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua – ILSN) reports widespread concerns that there may be more sick than currently verified by testing. In the midst of this unease, the church is offering spiritual support and guidance to people as they are able.

The ILSN took steps early on to keep members and their communities safe, suspending normal church meetings and activities. Large gatherings were suspended, with pastors instead meeting with small groups of people at a time to administer the means of grace. They have also distributed printed devotional material as well as offering services and messages online.

Some programs have had to be suspended for the time being, including the church’s large education program for children. The children’s feeding program, however, continues to be offered by deaconesses and volunteers, as it supports people in some of the poorest parts of the country. The program has been adapted to follow appropriate safety guidelines: rather than gathering children together in church buildings for meals, prepackaged food items are instead being delivered to the houses of impoverished children and families.

“We see how blessed our deaconesses in Nicaragua are in their dedication and service to the poor in their communities,” notes a recent update on the ILSN situation via The Canadian Lutheran magazine. “Their faith has opened their eyes to the needs of the people, and has inspired and led them to find ways to address those needs, even in the face of a daunting pandemic.”

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For more news and information from the International Lutheran Council about the COVID-19 pandemic, click here.

German Bishop decries newly-declared “Right to Death”

Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt.

GERMANY – On February 26, 2020—Ash Wednesday—Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court declared that all people have a constitutional right to end their life in a manner of their own choosing and to seek outside help in doing so. The courts further ruled that access to assisted suicide should not be limited to those suffering from an incurable condition.

In response to the ruling, Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (SELK) has issued a letter arguing that “No one has the right to decide the circumstances of his own death.” Bishop Voigt also serves as Chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran churches.

While the letter responds specifically to the declaration of Germany’s highest court, the issues it addresses—euthanasia and assisted suicide—are being increasingly considered in many areas of the world. In Canada, for example, the federal government has recently announced it will expand physician assisted suicide and euthanasia to allow those suffering from mental illnesses, and those not facing imminent death, to seek aid in dying.

Those seeking a Christian response to end of life issues faithful to Scripture will find Bishop’s Voigt’s words helpful. The letter appears below. (You can also read it in German here.)

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“NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS OWN DEATH”
Death and Birth are not Subject to Human Decisions – for the Sake of Man’s Dignity

Statement by the presiding clergyman of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (SELK), Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt D.D. (Hannover), concerning the verdict of Germany’s Constitutional Court of February 26, 2020 regarding “a person’s right to decide on the circumstances of one’s death”.

First Preliminary Remark

The Federal Constitutional Court (“Bundesverfassungsgericht” or BVG) is Germany’s highest constitutional authority and deserves our utmost respect. The welfare of our state, its services, its advantages and their protection which we as citizens and as Christians enjoy every day, is very much dependent on this respect; because, according to Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions, all legitimate state authority is given and willed by God. Thus it is difficult for me to criticize yesterday’s verdict by the Court.

Second Preliminary Remark

We ought to exercise the highest regard and the utmost restraint when we talk about the distress sick people feel and their fervent wish to die. The kind of suffering some people have to endure for years surpasses a healthy person’s way of thinking. In such times of suffering almost every person will likely consider thoughts how actively to end one’s own life. And even those people who will turn such thoughts into action deserve our Christian love and final accompaniment. Dr. Martin Luther often expressed the view that people who committed suicide should be given a Christian burial, because they “did not do it easily” and likely were in an internally vulnerable situation, and were “as if overcome by a robber in the forest.”

There is no “Right to Decide on one’s Own Death”

In its verdict of February 26, 2020 the Constitutional Court established a new legal principle when it stated in Point 1: “The general principle to define your own personality includes, as an expression of a person’s autonomy, the right to decide about one’s own way of dying.”

The Basic Law/Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany states in Par. 2, Sect. 1: “Every-one has the right to freely live out his personality, provided he does not violate the rights of others and does not transgress the constitutional order or the moral law.” Here the BVG makes a connection to Par 1., Sect. 1 of the German Constitution, where we read: “The dignity of the person is inviolable. To honour and protect it is the duty of all state power.”

At no point does the German Constitution posit a “right of self-determined dying.” This statement could possibly be rightly understood in reference to the manner of a person’s death, e.g. that it is a matter of one’s free determination to die with or without therapy, with or without pain medication. But the sentence that follows in the verdict under Sect. b states: “The right to a self-determined death includes the freedom to take one’s own life.” Within its context this sentence claims that there is a right to determine one’s own time of death. This claim arises out of nowhere. And it is new and wrong, and it is not in accord with the spirit of the German Constitution, as I will try to show hereafter.

This Verdict contravenes the Fifth Commandment

“You shall not murder”—so reads the Fifth of the Ten Commandments. This Commandment applies in regard to the life of others and also in regard to my own life. The dignity of man is based on the uniqueness of his being born. And that also implies the non-violability of his end. That man cannot in principle decide his own death is one of the reasons for his dignity.

These days various commentaries made the point that religious convictions cannot be applied to the general public in a secular state. But the Constitution of the Federal Republic does precisely that. The very first sentence of the preamble defines its background: “In full awareness of our responsibility before God and man…” The Constitution’s reference to God is the reminder that there is a higher law, so to speak, “the connection with on high”; human law needs to have a connection to divine law, to prevent it from ending up in arbitrariness.

The legal philosopher Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde has defined the ethical-moral connection this way: “The secular libertarian state is dependent on presuppositions that it cannot guarantee of its own.” Because the verdict of the BVG contravenes the ethical standard set by the Fifth Commandment—which is posited not only in the Judeo-Christian religion—the Court has cut itself off from the reference to the Divine in the Constitution.

Legal Uncertainty for Physicians and Supporters is not the Real Problem

Legal flaws and uncertainties as they derive out of Par. 217 of the Law until now prohibiting commercial support for suicide since December 3, 2015 are not the real problem. It is much more fundamental, because to posit a “right of self-determined dying” and the freedom to take one’s own life, there might then arise as a consequence the duty for the state to provide the necessary conditions for that right.

Up until now self-inflicted death was a taboo. Now that it has fallen, we can expect a subtle pressure on terminally ill patients to follow the expectations of their relatives and friends—even though they may be wrongly assumed—and have them take their own life. The first two articles of the German Constitution set forth the ethical position of a “culture of life.” Its present subsequent formulation now defines a “culture of death.”

I believe that February 26, 2020 will enter into the legal history of the Federal Republic of Germany as a kind of Ash Wednesday.

Hans-Jörg Voigt, D.D.
Bishop, Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche (SELK)
Hannover, Germany

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Translation by Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Torgerson (Windsor, Canada)

 

Chairmen of ILC and GAFCON meet in Wittenberg

Participants in the latest round of ACNA-LCC-LCMS talks meet in Wittenberg, Germany. Representatives of the Anglican Church in North America during these meetings included: ACNA Archbishop Foley Beach; the Rev. Peter Frank, ACNA pastor; the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Riches, Reformed Episcopal Seminary rector and professor; and Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton, ACNA Dean of Ecumenical Affairs. Representing the Lutherans were LCC Past President Robert Bugbee; the Rev. Joel Kuhl, Chairman of LCC’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR); the Rev. Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, Executive Director of the LCMS’ CTCR; and the Rev. Larry Vogel, Associate Executive Director of the LCMS’ CTCR. International guests included: the Rev. Dr. Christoph Barnbrock, Rector and Professor at SELK’s seminary Lutherische Theologische Hochschule; outgoing Evangelical Lutheran Church in England (ELCE) Chairman Jon Ehlers; Free Church of England (FCE) Bishop John Fenwick; Reformed Episcopal Church in Germany (Anglikanische Kirche in Deutschland – AKD) Bishop Gerhard Meyer; Reformed Episcopal Church in Croatia (Protestantska Reformirana Kršćanska Crkva – PRKC) Bishop Jasmin Milić; SELK Bishop Emeritus Jobst Schöne; SELK Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, and the Rev. Dr. Vatroslav Župančić of the United Methodist Church in Germany (Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche – EMK.

GERMANY – The respective chairmen of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, and of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), Archbishop Foley Beach, met in Wittenberg on October 30 during the latest round of dialogue between confessional Lutherans and Anglicans from North America.

ILC Chairman Hans-Jörg Voigt and GAFCON Chairman Foley Beach meet at the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School in Wittenberg, Germany.

Bishop Voigt is the spiritual leader of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche – SELK) of Germany, and has served as ILC Chairman since 2010.  Archbishop Beach is Primate of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and is currently Chairman of the GAFCON Primates’ Council. The ILC is a growing association of confessional Lutheran church bodies committed to the authority of Holy Scripture as God’s written Word, and to the biblical Gospel of Jesus Christ as the heart of the Church’s faith and mission. GAFCON was born out of the realignment of world Anglicanism, as those who uphold the authority of Scripture banded together to respond to theological and spiritual decay within the Anglican communion. The churches associated with GAFCON now represent around 50 million of the 70 million Anglicans around the world.

“The theological and historical background of GAFCON deeply impressed me,” noted Bishop Voigt. “Their understanding of Holy Scripture is very close to that of ILC churches,” he continued, while acknowledging there remain differences of theology between the two organizations which would benefit from further dialogue.

For nearly a decade, representatives of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), Lutheran Church-Canada (LCC) and the ACNA have carried out semi-annual dialogue meetings, rejoicing in their discovery of substantial biblical teaching held in common. The decision was made to hold this fall’s round of talks at Wittenberg’s Old Latin School, an agency of the LCMS, SELK and ILC, to afford the regular participants an opportunity to be introduced to each other’s European partners and mark the 502nd anniversary of the Reformation together. In that context Bishop Voigt traveled to Wittenberg and had opportunity to speak with Archbishop Beach, who was present for the regular dialogue meetings. The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in England was also present, as were Anglican bishops from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Croatia.

Much of the week’s discussions provided an opportunity for those present to introduce the churches they serve. In addition, there was significant attention given to the possibilities for cooperation in theological education in Europe. Participants also toured historical Luther sites throughout Wittenberg, and in the town of Eisleben, where Luther was born and also died. On the early morning of Reformation Day, the group walked to the famous Thesentür (“theses door”) of Wittenberg’s Castle Church to offer prayers to the Lord and to acknowledge His grace in uncovering the truth of the Gospel at the time of the Reformation 502 years ago.

For more information on the dialogue meetings held in Wittenberg, see this release from the Anglican Church in North America, Lutheran Church–Canada, and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.

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Hans-Jörg Voigt continues as Bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany

Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt addresses the convention upon his reelection.

GERMANY – The Extraordinary General Synod of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Germany opened April 19, 2018 with a Service of Confession and Communion in Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Stadthagen. In the first synodical session the election of the Bishop was on the agenda. This had become necessary because the term of office for Bishop Voigt was set to expire at the end of the year.

For the proposed election the General Pastoral Conference of SELK last year nominated Bishop Voigt and Rev. Markus Nietzke as candidates. In the afternoon these candidates presented themselves to the assembled delegates and answered questions that had previously been submitted to the leadership of the synod. The election by the 47 delegates took place in the evening. On the first ballot, Bishop Voigt received 30 votes, and Rev. Nietzke 17. Therefore Bishop Voigt continues to serve as the presiding clergyman of the SELK. The term of office is not limited.

Far beyond the confines of his church, Bishop Voigt’s pastoral letters on the plight of refugees and of Christian marriage have received considerable attention in Germany. Another important issue was the process of reconciliation begun with the Union Churches in the Protestant Federation (EKD) in Germany.

A native of Dresden, Rev. Dr. Voigt was installed as Bishop in 2006. In 2012 he became chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). “I regard the bishop’s office as serving the unity of the church,”  Bishop Voigt explained. “I have learned that leadership in the church is always a question of teamwork. It is important to listen, accept helpful suggestions, and continue to listen. It is essential to prevent polarization and to encourage people to speak with each other.”

For his second tenure in office, Bishop Voigt considers it a goal to be a confessionally sound Evangelical Lutheran Church with a heart for missionary outreach and ecumenical responsibility. Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt is married to his wife Christiane; the couple is blessed with four children.

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The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church
Hannover, Germany

Iranian and Afghan converts to Christianity face mass deportation from Germany; Pastor calls hearings “kangaroo courts”

GERMANY – While most Canadians celebrated the Christmas season in relative comfort, that wasn’t the case for all people across the world. In particular, one German pastor is raising the situation of Iranian and Afghan converts to Christianity living in Germany, who are facing mass deportation despite the dangers they will certainly face if they are returned to their homelands.

Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Berlin-Steglitz, a member congregation of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK). This congregation, along with several other SELK churches, have welcomed hundreds of converts to Christianity in recent years, mostly Iranian and Afghan refugees living in Germany. Dr. Martens and his congregation were widely covered in international media in early 2016 for their work among refugees. But the German government has recently begun to deny en masse the refugee claims of many of these converts, following what Dr. Martens is calling deeply flawed refugee hearings.

“Desperate reports have been reaching me from members of our congregation,” he writes in a letter released December 23. “At this time, the Federal Ministry for Immigration and Refugees is rejecting almost all applications for asylum from our Iranian members, and in many cases also from our Afghan congregational members and candidates for baptism, and is sending them deportation notices.”

Germany has recently increased the number of personnel responsible for hearing asylum applications—a necessary change, given many refugees have been waiting three years for their first hearing. “Yet not even in our worst nightmares could we have pictured what this change would entail,” Dr. Martens says. “Many [of those hearing the cases] are manifestly clueless about the situation of Christians in Iran and Afghanistan, and worse yet they are utterly clueless concerning questions relating to the Christian faith. But all of this does not prevent them from assuming the role of self-appointed experts, whose questions ‘unmask’ the supposedly deceitful Iranian asylum applicants one after another, even when those hearing the cases don’t even know the difference between the [Apostle’s] Creed, and the Our Father [Lord’s Prayer].”

Instead, refugees are being tasked with obscure or even irrelevant questions to determine the “authenticity” of their conversions. “Questions are put such as the names of the two sons in the parable of the Prodigal Son, or what Martin Luther died of, or the occasion of Queen Margarethe of Denmark’s recent visit to Wittenberg,” Dr. Martens reports. “In this way, Christians who learned the first elements of the Christian faith in their house church in Iran are well and truly hung out to dry. Many hearings are more like kangaroo courts in which our congregational members and candidates for baptism have absolutely no chance of presenting what is important to them.”

Dr. Martens further reports that those hearing the cases are dismissing or even mocking the refugees when they express their faith in the importance of Christ dying on the cross for their sins. “What the applicant says here makes absolutely no sense,” one official is said to write in his official reports. Those tasked with translating for the court—mostly Muslims with little knowledge of the Christian faith, and in some cases reportedly hostile to it—are also accused of incorrectly or even falsely translating what the refugees say during their hearings. Such improper questioning and translating seriously damages the applicants’ claims for refugee status, as the final decision is made elsewhere in Germany on the basis of these reports and transcripts.

Dr. Martens says the flaws in the system are so great that the situation must inevitably be raised to a higher court. “Orders have obviously been given from above no longer to recognize Iranian converts as having the right to asylum in our country,” Dr. Martens suggests. “The systematic failure of the Federal Ministry in hundreds of cases must come to the light of day through the efforts of the superior courts.”

The challenges come after a year of other difficulties, as converts to Christianity have faced increasing persecution from Muslim refugees angry at their conversions from Islam. “This year many of them suffered violent attacks from Muslim residents of their institutional homes and from Muslim watchmen once they learned of their conversion. Time and time again—most recently last week—we have had to collect people from residences, in order to prevent worse from befalling them,” he notes. The attacks even led SELKS’ bishop earlier this year to call on the government to give Christian refugees to be given separate accommodations from Muslim refugees. “But our congregational members and candidates for baptism are continually finding that those who attack them and threaten them with death have no problem securing the right of abode here in Germany, while they themselves—the ones under attack—are ‘exposed’ by the Federal Ministry as not entitled to asylum.”

As an example, Dr. Martens notes the case of six Christian converts who were beaten by a group of nearly 100 radical Muslim asylum applicants in February 2016. Police dogs had to be released in order to protect the Christians. And yet the police investigation was eventually dropped. Now, the six Christians are among those receiving deportation notices.

Despite the challenges, Dr. Martens reports good news too for his congregation. In his letter he goes on to explain the process by which refugees are instructed in the Christian faith prior to baptism—or excluded, if a genuine conversion is not evident. Currently baptisms sit at between 30 and 40 a month. And renovations to the building to accommodate more refugees continue apace.

Dr. Martens ends his letter with a request for prayer. “Please keep praying for the work here in Stegltiz,” he writes. “It is and remains in many ways a spiritual battle loaded with many afflictions and temptations. And yet for me personally, even after 25 years, it remains the most beautiful service in the world, which I would never exchange for anything else. Pray above all that all the members who have found their way to our congregation in the last years may continue to hold to Christ and not let their love for their Lord falter!”

You can download Dr. Martens’ full letter here. The translation is by Rev. Dr. John Stephenson of Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary (St. Catharines, Ontario).

SELK is a member church of the International Lutheran Council (ILC).

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Republished from The Canadian Lutheran.

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