One bread we share

Lutheran, The, Oct 2001

Strengthen us in the one bread we share, so that all may be fed and nourished. Unite us in your cup of blessing, so that we never suffer or rejoice alone.... Awaken us with your calling, so that we may be companions throughout the earth in common witness and service."

So begins a petition intended for use on Lutheran World Federation Sunday, the first Sunday in October, when Lutherans in many different homelands gather to worship in more than 100 languages, sharing the joy, pain and hope of our Lutheran family worldwide. A communion of 133 churches in 72 countries, the LWF includes 60.2 million of the world's 64 million Lutherans.

LWF is well-known for its service and development work. But most basic to its life is the worship, around word and sacrament, of its hundreds of thousands of congregations.

The following photographic glimpses inspire and show how the prayers and songs of Lutherans worldwide break down cultural walls to reveal the rich global witness of our worship.

Lutheran World Federation facts

*When the ELCA began in 1988,there were 8.8 million Lutherans in North America,4.7 million more than in Africa.By the end of 2000,there were 10.6 million Lutherans in Africa,about 2 million more than in North America.Over that period, membership in Lutheran churches in North America decreased by 2.8 percent (and by 6.1 percent in Europe) while growing by 126 percent in Africa and 67 percent in Asia.

*Lutheran World Federation members worship in such languages as Arabic;several Chinese dialects;Tamil; Hindi, Pidgin;Thai, Russian; Slovak; five Nordic languages;three Baltic languages, numerous Africa in languages including Herero,Malagasy,Tswana and Oromo;and many aboriginal languages including Aymara,Cree and Ojibwe.

*Ten million of Europe's 70 million Lutherans were refugees at the end of World War II.Today the LWF provides direct care for more than 400,000 refugees in Angola, Kenya,Tanzania and Zambia.

*The Ethiopian Evangelical [Lutheran] Church Mekane Yesus ("the place of Jesus' grew from 20,000 members in 1959to 3.6 million members in 2000.

*In In lndonesia,there are 11 LWF member churches with more than 4.2 million members.

*The first female Lutheran bishop, Maria Jepsen of the North Elbian Lutheran Church Hamburg District,Germany,was elected in 1992.In 2001,14 women are Lutheran bishops and five women are church presidents.

*In 1957, 10 years after its birth, the LWF had 62 member churches.Today it has 133.

*In July 2001,the Lutheran Church of Australia held a national reconciliation worship service after asking its indigenous members for forgiveness for their suffering during Australia's European settlement.The church has 94,000 members, including 10,000 aboriginal people.

Resources

To learn more about worship around the world:

* Watch the Summer 2001 MOSAIC. To order a copy, call (800) 638-3522, Ext. 6009. Listen to songs from 12 global cultures on the Living in Kyros: The Global Church Sings, Vol.2, compact disc (www.amazon. com). The musical group Kyros will donate $1 to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal for each of the first 1,000 CDs sold.

* Download congregational resources from the LWF Sunday Web site at www.elca. org/lwf/lwfsunday.html.