“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.”
The request for an observer status came from the Lutheran Church in Great Britain (LCiGB) to the Porvoo Contact Group in at its meeting in Sigtuna in March 2010 when the Church Leadership Consultation was held. The application was accepted en the church invited to be an observer at the next contact group meeting in October in 2010.
During the summer of 2010 an interest from the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad (LELCA) was expressed. A representative from that church was subsequently invited to be a guest at the meeting in October.
At the first session of the Porvoo Contact Group meeting, the two churches introduced themselves. The Rt. Revd Jana Jeruma Grinberga, bishop of the LCiGB gave an introduction to the church, its history and emphasis and was welcomed as an observer on the Porvoo Contact Group.
For more information on the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, go the the church’s website http://www.lutheranchurch.co.uk/ .
The Most Revd Elmārs Ernsts Rosītis, archbishop of the LELCA introduced his church, its history, ecumenical connections including connection to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia, a longtime observer in the Porvoo Communion. 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.
The picture is taken from the LCiGB website, showing a service in a church of the LCiGB.