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International Lutheran Center

Wittenberg Outreach during COVID-19

GERMANY – Like many churches and organizations around the world, the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School (OLS) in Wittenberg has been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Together we rejoice in the victorious resurrection and gracious reign of our Lord Jesus Christ over all, even as we mourn the suffering worldwide under the pandemic,” writes Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Weber, Managing Director of the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), in an Easter update. “Lord, have mercy.”

Worship services across Germany have been banned to help curb the spread of the disease, but Dr. Weber continues to reach out to the people of Wittenberg with mp3 sermons. In normal times, the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School provides a place for people to learn, grow, study, meet, retreat, and experience the Gospel in Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Reformation.

Like many businesses, the bookstore at the Center was closed for an extended period due to government regulations, and was only able to reopen on April 20. But the hospitality business—including hotels—remains suspended indefinitely, significantly impacting that aspect of the International Lutheran Center’s work.

“We are still very much in shut-down mode here in Luthercity,” Dr. Weber notes. “Things have practically come to a standstill: no tourists, no buses, no ships on the river, no cyclists, the market square deserted, and parking bays available all over.” With tourism suspended, the work of the ILSW in sharing the Reformation witness to the Gospel has been complicated. Several future events scheduled to take place at the Center also remain up in the air.

Dr. Weber encourages Christians everywhere to pray for those affected by COVID-19. “We prayerfully bring before God those suffering and facing hardships due to this pandemic,” he says. “May the Triune God continue to grant healing and salvation as we call on Him in our good Lord Jesus’ name. We pray for a vaccine son. We thank Him for those many people who have been healed and who continue on the way of recovery.”

The International Lutheran Council is part-owner of the ILSW and the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School in Wittenberg. For more information on its vital work, visit www.oldlatinschool.org. You can support the ILWS through online giving via the ILC website. Just select “Wittenberg Outreach.”

You can also donate by mail:

International Lutheran Council
P.O. Box 18775
St. Louis, MO 63118

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

ILC becomes part-owner of Wittenberg’s International Lutheran Center

The International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School in Wittenberg (right) across from St. Mary’s Church.

GERMANY – The International Lutheran Council (ILC) has become a part-owner of the International Lutheran Society of Wittenberg (ILSW), and with it, the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School (OLS) in Wittenberg.

The new partnership is a natural development in the relationship between the ILC and the ILSW’s International Lutheran Center, as the ILC has long supported the work of the ILSW, including highlighting important news from the center (like the installation of Dr. Wilhelm Weber as Managing Director) and hosting ILC events at the site (including classes in the Lutheran Leadership Development Program).

“It’s a joy to enter into this new relationship with the ILSW,” said Darin Storkson, Interim General Secretary of the ILC. “We look forward to deepening our relationship with the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School in Wittenberg, as it continues its vital ministry of Gospel proclamation in the region, as well as offering accommodations and Reformation education to visitors.”

The International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School provides a place for people to learn, grow, study, meet, retreat, and experience the Gospel in Wittenberg, the birthplace of the Reformation. The center stands across from St. Mary’s Church, where Martin Luther and other reformers regularly preached. The OLS was built in 1564 as a school for boys.

The OLS was founded as a joint project that included The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (SELK). The International Lutheran Council has now purchased an interest equal to that of the LCMS, making the ILC a full partner in the project with SELK and the LCMS.

For more information on the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School, or to book accommodations, visit www.oldlatinschool.org.

You can support mission outreach in Wittenberg through the International Lutheran Council through online giving. Just select “Wittenberg Outreach.” You can also donate by mail:

International Lutheran Council
P.O. Box 18775
St. Louis, MO 63118

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Installation of Dr. Weber in Wittenberg a ‘global event’

Rev. Dr. Wlhelm Weber is installed by Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt and Rev. Dr. Albert Collver.

Rev. Dr. Wilhelm Weber

GERMANY – On February 24, 2019, Rev. Dr. Wilhem Weber was installed as Managing Director of the International Lutheran Center at the Old Latin School in Wittenberg. The event was attended by guests from around the world, with Africa especially well-represented.

“I am very grateful that on this, my special day, you are here as well,” said Dr. Weber to those gathered for the installation. “Just like Paul we are always tempted to say ‘No, I’m too young, or I’m too this, or I’m to that.’ We need the encouragement of the brothers. That is why we take hands and say, ‘Praise the Lord. We will do this together because He has joined us, not just as acquaintances but as members of the same family—God’s family, His people.’”

Dr. Weber has formerly served both as Bishop of the Lutheran Church in South Africa (LCSA and as Rector of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Pretoria.

The installation service was conducted by Rev. Dr. Hans-Jörg Voigt and Rev. Dr. Albert Collver. Dr. Voigt is Bishop of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) in Germany and Chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). Dr. Collver is General Secretary of the ILC and Senior Managing Director of Wittenberg’s International Lutheran Center.

From Macedonia to Wittenberg

Dr. Weber’s sermon for the installation was entitled “From Macedonia to Wittenberg,” drawing on Acts 16:6-15. In that passage, St. Paul has a vision in which a man from Macedonia comes and begs him to come to them.

Now, Dr. Weber said, “we come here to Wittenberg, and we are astonished to see [church] buildings not much filled with life. It is a great concern, but it also shows the great responsibility we have.”

“The Gospel was blooming in all its brightness” long ago in Germany, he said. “Look what they’ve got now. Perhaps wealth, yes. But what about that which really makes the heart come to rest? Have they got that? We need to pray that God will give grace.”

Dr. Weber’s work with the International Lutheran Center will serve as a vehicle for Christian outreach to return to the heartland of the Reformation. It “gives Confessional Lutherans a chance to bring the pure Gospel anew to Germany, Europe, and to the world,” noted Deputy Bishop Helmut Paul of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA). “It is a great opportunity and yet also a great responsibility.”

Dr. Weber (back left) poses with ILC General Secretary Al Collver (front center) and participants in the Lutheran Leadership Development Program.

The FELSISA deputy bishop was one of a number of African guests present for Dr. Weber’s installation, with Lutheran leaders from Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, South Africa, and Tanzania all in Wittenberg for the current round of classes in the Lutheran Leadership Development Program.

Dr. Weber welcomed these guests, explaining that the work of the International Lutheran Center, like the work of the Church more generally, is something done in partnership with others. “[God] does not only work with individuals like Paul,” he said. “He also works with the communion of saints, the congregation of believers.”

“That’s what you are,” he continued. “God wants us to work together in this…. We are not to just stay alone, but rather to seek the communion of the faithful—and, together, to do what God has entrusted to us: namely, be faithful witnesses to Him.”

His words were well-received. “The installation of Rev. Dr. Weber provides inspiration and shows how the Lord preserves a remnant in a dying world,” said Bishop Emmanuel Makala of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania’s South East of Lake Victoria Diocese. “It was a joy to see churches from the International Lutheran Council participating, making the installation an event for global Lutheranism and not for Germany alone.”

Rev. Teshome Amanu, General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, also expressed appreciation for the clear Lutheran identity visible in the rite of installation itself. “This installation tells us how Lutherans are serious about their liturgy and placing ministers in their office according to Christ’s Word,” he said. “It is important for me that ministers receive the mandate from Christ Himself, and they are expected to be faithful to the One who called and mandated them.”

The International Lutheran Center is a joint project of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Concordia Publishing House.

You can support mission outreach in Wittenberg through the International Lutheran Council through online giving. Just select “Wittenberg Outreach.” You can also donate by mail:

International Lutheran Council
PO Box 18775
St. Louis, MO 63118

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