LWF raises its membership at Geneva Council Meeting

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has raised its membership to 65 million worldwide. On Monday 6th September the LWF announced that it had added three more churches to its international network, which previously stood at 76 nations.

The three churches that were added during the Council’s annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland were the Evangelical Church of the Czech Brethren (ECCB), the Protestant Church in Netherlands (PCN) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ghana (ELCG).

Prior to the addition, the LWF had some 62 million members under 136 member churches in 76 countries. Now, the LWF has 138 members in 76 countries; One of the Predecessors of the PCN, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (ELCNL) had already been an LWF member since 1947.

The ECCB has 263 congregations with 217 pastors, and is a member of the Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic, the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Leuenberg Church Fellowship (LCF). With the addition of this Czech church, 123,633 new members will be added to the LWF. The Czech church originated from the union of two different protestant groups: the Utraquists and the Unitas Fratrum. Both groups were forbidden in the 17th century, but with the introduction of full religious freedom in 1918, became united.

The PCN is part of the Council of Churches in the Netherlands, the Reformed Ecumenical Council, the CEC, LCF, WARC, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Council for World Mission. The PCN has 2,150 congregations and 2,950 ordained pastors and 2,530,000 members.

The ELCG is the Chairperson of the Christian Council of Ghana, and is part of the All Africa Council of Churches, the WCC, the International Lutheran Council (ILC) and the Lutheran Communion in Western Africa. The ELCG has 30 ordained pastors, 55 missionaries and evangelists, approximately 600 lay-leaders, and 26,000 members.

A major issue debated during the discussions on the three churches applications was whether there would be implications that the church was tied to both the LWF and the ILC (International Lutheran Council), which is a separate council of Lutherans that is more conservative than the LWF. It was resolved that the body could indeed take membership in both bodies.

The Council meeting in Geneva began on September 1st and ended on the 7th September. It meets every six years, and at this year’s council, which saw the total membership of the LWF rise to 64,961,682, some 100 church representatives and 70 invited guests attended.