Complete Story
09/02/2014
Invitation from Lutheran World Federation Center in Wittenberg, Germany to Attend 11th Int'l Seminar Feb 28-March 14 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the member churches of the Lutheran World Federation:
We are going to plan already the eleventh International Seminar of the LWF within the Luther decade in Wittenberg. All previous seminars have had this in common: that all participants enjoyed the teaching, the fellowship, and the program, and they went back home inspired, strengthened, and much more familiar with Luther, his time, and his theology. All liked the setting in this historical place and the opportunity to listen to each other, to learn from each other, and to experience spiritual community. But so far not all member churches have used this chance to send someone to such a seminar. Therefore, we especially invite those churches to the next seminar in February/March 2015. You might be interested to read the comments from the previous participants which you find under http://www.lwb-zentrum-wittenberg.de/ (seminars – previous seminars)
You are invited to send a pastor to the 11th seminar which will take place in Wittenberg from February 28th until March 14th, 2015 and will be led by Prof. Dr. Timothy Wengert, USA, and Prof. Dr. Paulus Ndamanomhata, Namibia. The theme of the seminar will be: "Holy Scripture, proclamation, doctrine." All participants will receive some relevant texts in advance so that they can prepare for the seminar. The seminar takes place in the Colleg Wittenberg, a venue right in the center of Luther’s town.
Again we ask you kindly to identify appropriate female or male pastors in your churches. Since so far we had much less female pastors then male pastors we encourage you urgently to identify female pastors from your church who meet the requirements:
- excellent knowledge of English, because the seminar is conducted in English
- pastors with some years of parish experience or students with special competence in Lutheran theology
- basic theological education
- endorsement of the leadership of the church
Again we will invite about 20 participants from the regions within the LWF. This will ensure a fruitful, cross-cultural dialogue that will strengthen the communion of the LWF.
We hope that participants will return to their respective home churches better equipped to spread Lutheran theology and willing to announce the Luther Decade and the events of the 500th anniversary, and so involve their churches in the preparations towards the jubilee. For the home churches, these seminars provide the opportunity to offer their pastors additional theological education.
The itinerary of the seminar will be as follows
Feb 28 - arrival
March 1 - worship and guided sightseeing tour in Wittenberg; 6.30 p.m. start with the dinner and welcome
March 2-6 - seminar, part one
March 7 - day trip to Erfurt and Wartburg Castle
March 8 - worship service in Wittenberg, visiting Torgau
March 9-13 - seminar, part two
March 14 - departure
Participants in the seminar are required to be present for the entire seminar program. Personal trips or excursions after the seminar are possible at one’s own expense and responsibility and need to be mentioned on the application form in order for the LWF Center to buy the health insurance and to issue the official letter of invitation for the appropriate time period.
Please find attached the nomination/registration form, which should be returned to us as soon as possible, but not later than November 1st, 2014. Because of limited funds we get from LWF we have to ask the churches in North America, Western and Northern Europe to cover the costs or to subsidize their participants. In addition to travel expenses, participants need about 950,- Euro for accommodation, food, the day trip to Erfurt and the Wartburg and Torgau, entrance fees, materials, etc. Participants from churches from other regions of the LWF we ask kindly to consider what they can contribute (travel costs to get visa and to go to the airport, contribution to the stay in Wittenberg etc.). The more money is contributed, the more participants we can invite.
We need your cooperation and ask you to invite pastors from your church. So far, we have received many applications from the Global South but only a few from Central Western and Northern Europe and North America. Thus, we ask the Lutheran churches in these areas to encourage pastors to apply for the seminar. This invitation will be sent via different channels. All those who applied for previous seminars but were not able to be accepted will receive the invitation directly.
All further communications will go directly to the participants, with copies sent to the respective churches. We kindly ask for your understanding if not all applications are accepted. This is due to limited financial means and limited capacities. But there will be seminars in the future, the next taking place in November 2015.
We do hope that this study opportunity will be of interest to member churches and their pastors. We look forward to a fruitful exchange within the communion of the LWF.
On behalf of Professor Wengert, Professor Ndamanomhata, and myself, I send you kindest regards,
Sincerely,
Yours in Christ
Pastor Hans W. Kasch
