Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
LWF General Assembly Underway
LWF General Assembly Underway
May 14, 2025 11:44 PM

Today marks the opening of the 11th General Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, held this time in Stuttgart. Today is also the 66th anniversary of the failed Stauffenberg assassination attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler.

There will be much more on the LWF assembly and it social witness in ing days. The assembly’s theme is, “Give us today our daily bread,” and the meeting promises to focus on hunger issues. I’ll be paying special attention to the engagement of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who was involved in the Stauffenberg plot, with the ecumenical movement in the 1930s and what we can learn about it today.

Follow along here on the PowerBlog. But for a basic primer on recent LWF pronouncements, in the context of the broader ecumenical witness, be sure to check out my new book, Ecumenical Babel: Confusing Economic Ideology and the Church’s Social Witness. Read an ENI piece on the opening of the assembly after the break.

German minister tells global Lutheran assembly to oppose injustice

By Anli Serfontein

Stuttgart, Germany, 20 July (ENI)–Whilst German Lutherans have traditionally been closely aligned to their country’s political system, they have also raised critical voices for justice and peace, Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has told a global Lutheran gathering.

“It has been observed that the Lutheran heritage in Germany has tended to encourage individuals to be obedient subjects rather than active citizens,” said Schäuble on 20 July at the opening worship of the Lutheran World Federation’s 11th assembly in Stuttgart, in southern Germany.

The German finance minister spoke on the 66th anniversary of a failed attempt to overthrow Nazi rule in Germany by assassinating dictator Adolf Hitler in 1944. German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was linked to the plotters. The Nazis executed him three weeks before the end of the Second World War in Europe.

“Germans had to learn through a painful history that good government is the responsibility of all citizens. Protestant Germans in their majority took a long time to understand that this was also what their Christian faith demanded of them,” Schäuble told a 1200-strong ecumenical congregation that included not only Lutherans but also Anglicans, Orthodox, Reformed and Romans Catholics.

Hundreds of Lutherans from around the world are in Stuttgart for the LWF assembly, where Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, is due to address the gathering on 22 July.

The Geneva-based Lutheran grouping is made up of 140 member churches in 79 countries, representing more than 70 million Protestants. It is expecting an estimated 1000 people, including 418 delegates from member churches, will participate in the Stuttgart assembly.

Taking place normally once every six years, the assembly is the LWF’s highest decision-making body, and will continue until 27 July. The last assembly was in Winnipeg, Canada in 2003.

The opening service in Stuttgart was led by the president of the LWF, Mark Hanson, who is the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is to step down from his LWF post after the assembly.

Referring to the theme of the meeting, “Give us today our daily bread”, Hanson said, “Shall we assess our capacity as the LWF to respond to the migration of people for hope and salvation, and say, ‘Send the crowd away?'” The congregation responded with cries of, “No! No!”

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Is There a Moral Basis for the Free Market?
The morality of the market, important as it is in a free society, says James Stoner, is not the only kind of morality that matters mon life: So is there a moral basis for the free market? Sure, but it is part of plex moral environment that rightly limits market freedom even as it supports it. The morality of the market, important as it is in a free society, should not be mistaken for the only kind of morality that...
The Ever-Persistent, Always-Destructive Myth of Overpopulation
The Nordic philosopher and priest Anders Chydenius (1729-1803) — the “Adam Smith of the North” — once asked: Would the Great Master, who adorns the valley with flowers and covers the cliff itself with grass and mosses, exhibit such a great mistake in man, his masterpiece, that man should not be able to enrich the globe with as many inhabitants as it can support? That would be a mean thought even in a Pagan, but blasphemy in a Christian, when...
A Big Government Rescue Plan For Women
We’re scolded for blaming the poor, judging their lifestyle choices, says Elise Hilton in this week’s Acton Commentary. But what good can we do if we refuse to look at systemic issues? We are told that we are guilty of blaming the poor, judging their lifestyle choices. But what good can we do if we refuse to look at systemic issues that indeed cause poverty: irresponsible sexual choices, dropping out of school, a revolving door of men in women’s and...
Audio: Rev. Robert A. Sirico on the Foundations of Liberty
Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico made an appearance on The Price of Business with host Kevin Price on Business 1110 KTEK in Houston, Texas. The conversation focused on the importance of liberty and the vital need to understand the foundations of our freedoms. You can listen to the interview via the audio player below. ...
National Religious Freedom Day In The U.S. And The Vision of Jefferson
Perhaps it’s because we Americans are still getting over Christmas, or talking about the Super Bowl, but National Religious Freedom Day doesn’t get a lot of press. But indeed: January 16 is National Religious Freedom Day, adopted originally by the state of Virginia and now remembered annually by the White House. Penned by Thomas Jefferson, the Statute for Religious Freedom reads, in part: Be it enacted by General Assembly that no man shall pelled to frequent or support any religious...
‘Being Black At University Of Michigan’ (#BBUM) Students Should Transfer To Howard University
Contrary to the spirit of cooperation and solidarity, a group of black students at the University of Michigan believe they should receive some sort of special treatment because they are black. While the students may have legitimate concerns regarding campus culture, making outrageous demands is the least effective means of asking the administration to take their concerns seriously. In fact, given their unreasonable and unrealistic expectations it would be best if all of these protesting black students simply transferred to...
Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the search for Christian freedom
While imprisoned by the Nazis at Tegel military prison, and shortly after learning of the last failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned a short poem for his friend, Eberhard Bethge, titled “Stations on the Road to Freedom.” e across the poem before, but in recently reading Eric Metaxas’ fine biography of the man, I was reminded of its power and potency in describing the essence of Christian freedom.It es all the pelling given its context, serving as...
Rural Cuba and the tragedy of the commons
Michael J. Totten has a new piece on his travels through Cuba, this one focused on rural Cuba. “Most of the Cuban landscape I saw is already deforested,” he writes. “It’s just not being used. It’s tree-free and fallow ex-farmland. I’ve never seen anything like it, though parts of the Soviet Union may have looked similar.” Economists refer to this sort of thing as “the tragedy of mons,” and nobody does it well as munists. Parts of the travelogue are...
Handing Down Poverty, Mother To Daughter
The New York Times unwittingly highlights many of the points from the Acton Commentary, Maria Shriver’s Big, Big Government Rescue Plan For Women. In a piece entitled “Sarah’s Uncertain Path,” the Times takes a look at poverty in America, focusing on a pregnant 15 year old girl. Sarah’s family certainly has a rough go of it. And the Times would lead us to believe, just as the aforementioned Government Rescue Plan, that Sarah’s family and those like them are victims:...
The Netherlands Try To Cure ‘Dutch Disease’: Welfare State
wants to talk about disease and dysfunction. It’s not a medical condition, though; it’s an economic one. Far too few governments rein in their countries’ bloated welfare states before disaster strikes. As a result, some citizens eventually suffer the economic equivalent of a heart attack: wrenching declines in living standards as they are victimized by unsustainable programs’ endgame. Greece and the city of Detroit are only the most recent grim examples. The Dutch, Boskin says, seem to be making a...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved