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MEETING BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE INTERNATIONAL LUTHERAN COUNCIL (ILC) AND
THE LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION (LWF)
WITTENBERG, GERMANY, 12 – 13 NOVEMBER 2013

LWF PARTICIPANTS:
​Rev. Martin Junge, the General Secretary of LWF
Rev. Dr. Nicholas Tai, Dean of Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong
​OKR Norbert Denecke, LWF German National Committee
​Rev. Dr. Kaisamari Hintikka, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations
​Rev. Dr. Carlos Bock, the Director of LWF Department for Mission and Development

ILC PARTICIPANTS:
​Bishop Hans-Jörg Voigt, ILC Chairman
​Rev. Dr. Albert Collver, ILC Executive Secretary
​President Rev. James Cerdeñola
​President Rev. Gijsbertus van Hattem

Both the LWF and ILC are honoring the commitment they made for the executive committees of each organization to meet with one another as agreed in the memorandum of understanding from 3 March 2005.

Dr. Collver and General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge with Martin Luther

Both the LWF and ILC thanked one another and appreciated the frank conversation and transparency shown in the discussion. Both agreed that the conversation was valuable and looks forward to the next opportunity to gather. A desire was expressed to meet annually. The LWF will host the next meeting in Geneva on January 14, 2015.

On 14 November 2013, the ILC showed the LWF delegation the “Old Latin School” in Wittenberg. The ILC plans to have a regional office here once construction is completed.

The group saw the building construction and the newly poured concrete foundation.

The Old Latin School was built 18 years after Martin Luther’s death. The book How Wittenberg Looked when Luther Lived describes the Old Latin School: “Eighteen years after Luther’s death the situation changed insofar as under Mayor Heilinger, the father-in-law of Luther’s son Martin, a new boys’ school was built in the northwestern corner of the church square, thus replacing the old ossuary. It still exists today as the old high school (now Wattrodt’s print shop), not, however, after having undergone many changes. – After this building was finished, the old girls’ school was torn down and moved to the former boys’ school which was called girls’ school from then on. This caused some confusion among researchers who were unaware of this change.”

The top photo shows the exposed wood beam from the Old Latin School. The historic records note that Bible verses and sections of the Small Catechism were written on the beams and exterior walls of the school. The lower photo shows what the reconstruction might look like. This photo is near Luther’s house, the old Augustinian Monastery.

Pictured here is the Augustinian Monastery. Later this became the house of Martin and Katie Luther.

President James Cerdeñola and Dr Albert Collver enjoy the frosty Wittenberg morning at the old Elbe Gate.

We also visited the Luther Garden near the Castle Church, which is under reconstruction.

The Missouri Synod as well as other ILC partners have trees in the Luther Garden.

The Wittenberg Town Hall.

We visited both the ELCA Wittenberg Office and the LWF Wittenberg Office.

The visit to Wittenberg was very good and productive.

– Posted by Rev. Dr. Albert Collver on 14 November 2013 using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Kirchplatz,Kleinwittenberg,Germany