ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 20, 2005

ELCA Presiding Bishop, LWF President Visits Brazil
05-199-MRC

     PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil (ELCA) -- In response to emerging
fundamental, charismatic movements around the world today,
Lutherans must remain secure in the fact that they also have an
understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, the Rev. Mark S.
Hanson told leaders of the Igreja Evangelica de Confissao
Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) -- Evangelical Church of the Lutheran
Confession in Brazil -- in a meeting here Oct. 12.
     Hanson, president of the 66-million-member Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), based in Geneva, Switzerland, and presiding
bishop of the 4.9-million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), Chicago, met with members of the IECLB Oct. 9-14
to learn about the mission and ministry of the church throughout
Brazil.  The IECLB is the largest Latin American member of the
LWF and a "partner church" of the ELCA.
     Lutheran Christians in Brazil and around the world can "make
a contribution as to how we read and understand the Bible, and
how we describe the work of the Holy Spirit rather than become
defensive or fearful about other movements," he said.
     Hanson shared an experience from a recent trip to Nigeria,
where Lutherans in the African country (immediately after
worship) inquired about how the Pentecostal movement is drawing
people away from the Lutheran churches there.  In response Hanson
said, he told them, "'Didn't you just confess your faith in the
triune God and in the words of the Apostle Creed, and didn't you
confess that you believe in Jesus Christ?'  They responded with a
'yes,' so I said, 'Then you are charismatic because, as
Lutherans, we believe the Holy Spirit works through the gospel,
and the first work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to faith.'"
Hanson said the membership of Lutheran churches in Africa has
increased by more than 1 million members.
     "Bishop Hanson's visit is extremely important to us," said
the Rev. Walter Altmann, pastor president of the IECLB.  Altmann
and other leaders of the IECLB led the Oct. 12 meeting.  The ELCA
and IECLB "are partner churches" and that relationship has
"helped us in many ways with the sharing of resources and
personnel," he said.
     Hanson's role as president of the LWF "also strengthens our
feeling of being part of the worldwide communion and represents a
strong witness and service the church is rendering in this
country," Altmann said.
     "We are brothers and sisters, part of one family in the body
of Christ, especially with the increasing plurality of religious
expressions, challenges in the social, political and economic
scenery here.  The (ELCA and IECLB) can support each other in the
face of these challenges," he said.
     Altmann and his IECLB colleagues described the life of the
church, which has been affected by the migration of the rural
population from southern to northern Brazil and by the increased
poverty of the middle class that makes up the membership of the
IECLB.
     The IECLB is different from other church structures because
of its understanding of ministry in the church, said Altmann.
"The ministry of the church is expressed in a fourfold way --
pastoral, diaconal, catechetic and mission ministry," he said.
Pastors, deacons and catechists of the church preach the gospel
and administer the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Altmann said.
     In describing the ELCA to members of the IECLB, Hanson
likened the age of the ELCA to that of a teenager.  "The ELCA is
a young church.  It is 18 years old," he said.  "As one who has
parented six children through the age of 18, I recognize that age
as a time when one is both claiming one's identity given by one's
parents and family but also creating a sense of one's
independence and own identity.  As the ELCA, I think that we are
in that place of claiming the gifts of our predecessor churches
and our immigrant ancestors, but becoming more clear about what
it means to be evangelical Lutherans in a diverse, changing
American global context."
     On behalf of the ELCA, Hanson received a letter and $2,500
from members of the IECLB to support the ELCA's relief and
recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina, which struck areas
of the U.S. Gulf Coast Aug. 28-29.
     Altmann, Hanson and the Rev. Callon W. Holloway met Oct. 13
with the Rev. Carlos Walter Winterle, president of the Igreja
Evangelica Luterana do Brasil (Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Brazil) -- a fellowship of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Hanson and Winterle shared information about one another's church
ministries.
     Accompanying Hanson was his wife Ione, Holloway, bishop of
the ELCA Southern Ohio Synod, Columbus, Ohio, and the Rev. Raquel
E. Rodriguez, director for the Latin America and Caribbean desk,
ELCA Global Mission, Chicago.

Hanson Visits 'Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem'
     "We are a church of immigrants," said the Rev. Helmar
Reinhard Roelke, synod pastor, Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem -- a
synod of the IECLB with offices in the city of Vitoria, located
in the Brazilian state of Espiritu Santo.  Roelke and other
leaders of the synod met Oct. 10 with Hanson.
     Through an interpreter Roelke described the 180-year history
of the Lutheran church in Brazil, tracing its ancestry to that of
evangelical German immigrants.  After many years, the evangelical
immigrants understood their theological and ecclesiastical
identity as being of the Lutheran Confession and organized
congregations.  Independent synods, made of up of congregations
throughout the country, formed and constituted the IECLB in 1949.
     Sinodo Espirto Santo a Belem and the ELCA Southern Ohio
Synod are working toward a "companion relationship" where members
of both synods can "pray, support and engage in ministries
together," Holloway said.
     "I am touched by the personal reception I received from
members of the Espirito Santo synod.  Roelke is a man of prayer,"
Holloway said.  "Together we will be a community of saints sent
out to be the salt of the earth.  I look forward to being prayer
partners and sharing our joys and frustrations," he said.
     "The companion relationship begins when we confess our faith
together," Roelke said.
     Mark Hanson, Ione Hanson, and other ELCA leaders visited
some of the immigrant congregations in rural Espiritu Santo and
other ministries of the synod, such as "Albergue Martin Lutero"
-- a shelter that provides food and a place to stay for people
receiving outpatient care at the local hospital in Vitoria.
     The ELCA group also visited the Reconciliation Community
Program in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Oct. 14.  Funded in part through
the ELCA World Hunger Program and ELCA Global Mission, the
program provides care and education for children and teenagers
from low-income families.  The program works to create a "worthy
social and educational space for children to keep them off the
streets."  It provides care for about 300 children from 6 to 16
years of age, and its "Children's Cozy Place" cares for 75
children ages 3 to 6.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
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