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Sharing a Common Life

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Meeting of the Primates and Presiding bishops, Llandaff.

The Primates and Presiding Bishops of the Porvoo Communion of Churches met in Llandaff, Wales, on October 3. -4., to review common work undertaken since the last meeting, to discuss areas of common concern and to share information about important issues in their respective churches.

The biannual meeting of the Primates and Presiding Bishops is one of the consultation processes in the Porvoo Communion of Churches, who have committed themselves to “share a common life in mission and service.”

In reviewing the work carried out since their last meeting the Primates and Presiding Bishops commended the “Guidelines for Interfaith Encounter” which had been further developed at a Porvoo Consultation in 2011, and also the work on responding to conflict which is part of an on-going process for consultation within the Communion. Information on these consultations can be found on the website of the Porvoo Communion, www.porvoochurches.org under “resources”.

In discussing the current economic crisis in Europe the Primates and Presiding Bishops recognized that this affects all the countries and churches in different ways. Unemployment is rising in most of the countries. Changing patterns of migration have created a challenge to the churches in providing pastoral care to the new migrants. A Consultation on Diaspora and Migrant Churches will be held by the Porvoo Communion in March 2012. The Primates and Presiding Bishops also called for a consultation on Economy and Ethics, recognising the effect that the current economic environment has on their countries and the moral responsibility of the richer churches towards the poorer churches. The next consultation of the Communion, to be held in Finland in November 2011, will be a Consultation on Marriage. The consultation will enable the Porvoo churches to share each other’s understanding and experiences as well as each other’s traditions, histories and differences.

The Porvoo Communion is visible in different areas in the life of the churches, for example in twinning and visits between dioceses and congregations, and in the mutually enriching engagement of diaspora congregations in the life of the churches of the Communion. The Primates and Presiding Bishops asked that creative work with young people across the Communion should be explored.

Presiding bishops from across Europe gather in Wales

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Twelve leaders from European churches of the Porvoo communion met together in Wales this week. The meeting, hosted by the Church in Wales, is taking place at St Michael’s College, Llandaff, on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is the first time the leaders of the Porvoo churches, who represent churches from Spain to Iceland, have met in Wales. They meet every two years to discuss common issues and build up stronger relationships between their churches. The meeting will begin with a service at Llandaff Cathedral tonight (Monday) at which the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, will preside and the Archbishop of Uppsala, Andres Wejryd, will preach. Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop in Wales said, “I am delighted to welcome the leaders of the Porvoo Communion to Wales for the first time and I hope we will inspire each other with our different traditions as well as strengthen the links we have already build up between our churches.” The church leaders coming to Cardiff are: Archbishop Kari Makinen, Finland Archbishop Andres Poder, Estonia Archbishop Elmars Ernsts Rozitis, Church of Latvia Abroad Archbishop Anders Wejryd, Sweden Bishop Karl Sigurbjörnsson, Iceland Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien, Norway Archbishop Mindaugas Sabutis, Lithuania Bishop David Chillingworth, Scotland Bishop Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, Lutheran Church in Great Britain Bishop Carlos Lopez Lozano, Spanish Episcopal Church Archbishop Rowan Williams, Canterbury.

Consultation on Churches Responding to Conflict

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On the recommendation of the Church Leaders Consultation in March 2010, the Porvoo Contact Group held a consultation on the theme Churches Responding to Conflict from 20th -23rd February 2011 in Tallinn, Estonia. The organisers are grateful to the host church, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, for the invitation to hold such a consultation in Tallinn. The churches met in the context of a widening conflict across the Arab world and upheld its peoples in prayer.

Keeping the goal of the common good of Christ’s church in mind, the consultation was a way to deepen knowledge, strengthen sharing, learn from one another and generate greater understanding. Furthermore, it was to make suggestions to the Porvoo Contact Group for further work on an appropriate framework for responding to situations of conflict within the Porvoo Communion of Churches. Serious tensions have arisen over issues of sexuality which have threatened communion.

The conference opened with Eucharist in the Cathedral at which The Rt Revd Karl Sigurbjörnsson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Iceland presided and The Rt Revd Trevor Williams preached. The consultation closed with Eucharist in the Holy Spirit Chapel, presided over by Archbishop Andreas Põder of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church and at which Bishop Michael Jackson was the preacher. Daily prayer accompanied the sessions.

The Bible Studies held by The Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera of the Church of Ceylon formed a cornerstone to the deliberations. As a representative from the Global South he shared valuable theological insights gained from the context of conflict in his country of Sri Lanka and within the Anglican Communion.

Thematic inputs were given by Rt Revd Trevor Williams, Church of Ireland, Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe (Churches Responding to Political and Religious Conflict), Rt Revd Michael Jackson, Church of Ireland, Diocese of Clogher (Churches Responding to Conflict – a Diaconal Perspective), Revd Prof Paul Avis (Authority, Conflict and Leadership) and Revd Prof Dr Tõnu Lehtsaar, Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (Churches Responding to Conflict in Times of Societal Change – An Estonian Perspective).

In group meetings and workshops, participants explored their perceptions and ideas. The so called Keynote Listeners provided the plenary sessions with information from group meetings and workshops. The daily Public Conversations provided the reflecting process in which the keynote listeners were asked questions in an interview format to invite their reflections. The resource persons also acted as consultants for the consultation.

The consultation provided the Porvoo Contact Group with a range of important building blocks for further progress on a framework for responding to Conflict.

 

The LELCA a new observer in Porvoo

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A service in the LELCA

The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad was given an observer status in the Porvoo Communion during a meeting of the Porvoo Contact Group in Madrid, October 4 – 7 2010.

The Most Revd Elmārs Ernsts Rosītis, archbishop of the LELCA represented his church at the meeting, having been invited to the meeting as a guest, before decision was reached.

The church was closely involved in the making of the Porvoo Agreement where the representative of the Latvian Lutheran Church was the Dean of the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Great Britain.

This brings the number of churches with an observer status in the Communion to three. The other two churches are The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia which has had an observer status from the signing of Porvoo and the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, which became an Observer in March 2010.

The picture is from the website of a member church of the LELCA in Britain.

New observer in the Porvoo Communion

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A service in a church of the LCiGB.

“Two new churches are present at the Porvoo Contact Group meeting taking place in Madrid, October 4 – 7 2010. These are the Lutheran Church in Great Britain and the Latvian Church Abroad.”

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The Church of Denmark signs the Porvoo Agreement

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Mrs Hanna Broadbridge, Bishop Karsten Nissen of Viborg Diocese (signing) and Jørgen Skov Sørensen, the General Secretary of the Council on International Relations.

“The Church of Denmark today became a full member of the Porvoo Communion when representatives of the church signed the Porvoo Agreement in Copenhagen Cathedral.”

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The Church of Denmark will sign the Porvoo Agreement in October

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The Church of Denmark will sign the Porvoo Agreement on October 3rd in Copenhagen.

The Church of Denmark participated in the dialogues leading to the Porvoo Agreement but did not sign the Agreement when the Porvoo Communion was established. It has however maintained an observatory status and participated in Porvoo events and meetings since 1996. The decision to sign was announced in 2009. A date has been set and the Church of Denmark will sign the Porvoo Agreement and become a full member of the Porvoo Communion at a service in Copenhagen Cathedral on October 3rd 2010. The service starts at 10 am and is open to all. Members from other churches of the Porvoo Communion will be present.

Report from the Leadership Consultation

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The Porvoo Church Leadership Consultion (CLC) 2010 was held in Sigtuna, Sweden, in March. The CLC provides guidelines for the direction of common efforts in the Porvoo Communtion.

The consultation highlighted a few areas to concentrate on:

  • To develop better processes of consultation
  • To develop a regular newsletter to improve communications
  • To develop a youth network and strengthen youth exchange
  • To explore the possibility of establishing a Porvoo Solidarity Fund in order to help churches without huge resources to participate
  • To explore the possibility of an interchange programme for theological students
  • To work towards a clear united perspective on lay ministry within the Porvoo Communion
  • To take forward the recommendations from the Interfaith Consultation inEdinburghworking towards codes of good practice
  • To keep in mind the needs of churches in their contextual struggle and show solidarity

Main Recommendations of the CLC

  • To hold a consultation on Responding to Conflict in 2011
  • The theme for next Porvoo Theological Conference will be:  Sacraments in the Mission of the Church. The reason for this is to reflect on an enduring issue in the life of the church. Sacraments and mission can be linked in a good way, since they are the core element in the life of the church. For example, one can look at baptism and confirmation and what part they play in the evangelism of the church. Pastoral, liturgical and theological dimensions will form part of the discussions. There is furthermore a vital discussion in Sweden on whether the non-baptised can receive communion. The conference would also address this issue. The ‘Porvoo Idea’ is to be together in mission and ministry and this conference would give visibility to the idea.
  • The PCG should work towards a further Consultation on Diaconal Ministry which addresses the question of how churches in the Porvoo Communion see the future of the diaconate in their own church. Furthermore the PCG should work on putting instruments in place for greater solidarity with the migrant population.
  • To hold a Consultation on Diaspora and Migration in 2012.

The final report of the Leadership Consultation

List of Participants at the Leadership Consultation

Pictures from the Consultation

Documents from Anglican and Lutheran discussions available online

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The Church of Finland has published documentation of various meetings between Lutherans and Anglicans.

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Matti Repo, bishop of Tampere, Finland has contributed to the book with several articles.

The Church of Finland has published documentation of various meetings between Lutherans and Anglicans. In their series Reseptio, nr. 1/2010, many papers from theological conferences and consultations are found, on diakonia, communion, baptism and confirmation, on inter-faith issues and others. Most of them are printed in English, but some are in Finnish.

They are now available online also.

Reseptio 1/10 Lutheran Anglican relations.

Dialogue with Other Religions is Important for a Functional Society

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The Rt Revd Martin Wharton

“Churches in the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as those in the British Isles, will actively work to compile guidelines and good examples for the churches’ future religious dialogue efforts.”

This was one of the conclusions of the four day gathering in Sigtuna of Porvoo Church Leaders, known as the Church Leaders Consultation, CLC.

-The dialogue with different religions is extremely important for society to function and for us to be able to live in harmony with other religions and faiths and respect our fellow citizens. So says Church of England’s Martin Wharton, who is the co-chairman of the Porvoo Contact Group.

According to him Islam, Judaism and Hinduism have many similarities with Christianity.

-We as churches must be more intrepid in this area. There is only one race and that is the human race. We are all brothers and sisters, he goes on to say.

Alison Elliot

When summing up the meeting Alison Elliot from the Church of Scotland spoke about the identities of the churches in the new society of Europe today, where cultural diversity, migration and cross-boundary meetings are a part of everyday life.

-We need to question our own identity and be brave enough to test the limitations of our own view of ourselves, she says.

The Porvoo Churches is a fellowship of Lutheran churches, primarily those in the Nordic and Baltic countries, together with the Anglican churches in the British Isles. The meeting in Sigtuna was a consultation meeting of the church leaders, which is held once every four years.

The future challenges that were identified were:

The Porvoo Churches need

– to develop a distinct process for how, and on what issues, the churches should consult one another.

– to develop frameworks for the churches who would like to become new members.

– to establish a cross-boundary network, for example for child and youth initiatives.

Gothenburg will host a meeting on dialogue with other religions

The Porvoo Churches will work actively to compile guidelines and good examples for the churches’ future religious dialogue efforts. A separate meeting dedicated to dialogue with other religions will be held in Gothenburg in 2011.

In October 2010 there will be a celebration to mark the Church of Denmark becoming a member of The Porvoo Churches. Previously the Church of Denmark has participated as an observer. Because of this new membership the ecumenical map will expand – with the Church of Greenland also becoming part of The Porvoo Churches.

More than 50 delegates gathered in Sigtuna from Anglican churches in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain and Portugal, as well as from Lutheran churches in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, Iceland and Sweden. The Lutheran church of Latvia and the Church of Danmark were present as observers.