The intergenerational boat

Preparations for the LWF Twelfth Assembly from the perspective of an intern

"Liberated by God’s Grace, Salvation - not for Sale, Creation - not for Sale, Human Beings -not for Sale…"

I will keep these topics forever in my mind, because I worked constantly with them in the past six weeks. But I don’t mind, as I fully stand behind this beliefs and advocate
for these themes in my personal life, as well.

When I reflect the time I’ve spent here in the Communion Office, I am very grateful for everything I could learn and experience. It started with getting an idea of the historical process of how the LWF was founded and developed  to getting to know the different departments of the LWF. There were also very basic but nice experiences such as learning on my first day, that nobody sticks to surnames but that you just call everybody by their first names. So even me as an intern, I could experience this nice atmosphere of respecting each other.

A term that I want to relate to the Communion Office is “Shaping”. With all the topics the LWF choose, with the projects the LWF supports, with the people the LWF is working with...
these all are things that are shaping our environment and have an impact on others. I want to give you two examples.

The importance of youth participation

What the LWF recognized quite early, was the importance of youth participation. At the Assembly in Dar Es Salaam it was already considered to establish a Youth Desk. Now, almost 40 years later, youth is a stable element of the LWF. During the "days of meeting", a staff retreat that took place at the end of September, General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge used the example of a boat, in which people are drilling a hole. As young people , we are sitting inside as well, asking, what the hell they are doing, because the boat starts sinking. It sinks slowly enough for the ones drilling a hole to escape, but too fast for us, as the younger generation. Martin Junge emphasized the responsibility of listening to the younger generation and called this intergenerational responsibility. Speaking about “Fast for the climate” he said: "The youth converted us."

This is a very good example for me, how the youth shaped the LWF and how important youth participation is. It has made very clear to me: What leaders decide today is what we are faced with in the future!

The body of Christ

People from different ages but also from different regions should be involved in processes and decisions, which concerns the future. Therefore I want to use the image of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12. When I spoke with the area secretary of Europe, Rev. Dr Ireneusz Lukas, he used the example of the body of Christ as image for the worldwide church:

If some churches have different understandings than others and struggle,  it is not only the struggling church who suffers, but all suffer. So it needs dialogue and mutual understanding to discuss and find common grounds.

Shaping happens here as well even when it takes time. Everybody shall be able to follow, nobody should be left behind, opinions of different cultural backgrounds and with different contexts must be considered. We shape together in a much better way through dialogue and through listening to the others point of views.

I don’t want to take for granted that I got to know so many people here in the Communion Office: with all their individuality, their personal stories and interesting biographies. I appreciated to be part of it for six weeks and get an idea of what it means to be not only member of my church in Germany, but member of a worldwide community of Lutheran churches!

by Ms Felicitas Biehler, Theology student of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Württemberg, LWF internship for 6 weeks in 2016