Friday, September 08, 2006
Lutheran connections are global
In my role with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Chicago, occasionally I get to meet church leaders who travel to the churchwide offices in Chicago to consult with ELCA staff and church leaders. They come from all over the world, just as staff from here travel throughout the world to carry out the mission of the church.
Recently, I met with an interesting person who traveled here from a long, long way away. He is Isaac Teo, recently elected as general secretary of the 900,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea. Teo had been a participant at the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto and visited the ELCA offices in Chicago last month before going home.
Teo has an unusual background -- he spent several years as a corporate planner and communication engineer. During those years he was a church volunteer serving on councils and boards. We talked about his background and how he came to be in the role of general secretary. We talked about his church's work to minister to people with HIV and people with AIDS.
But it was something he said about the importance of global Lutheran church partnerships that struck me. From his point of view the wider church -- in this case -- Lutherans in North America -- helped him understand what it means to be "one" church. I could see it was important for him to tell me this.
"Even though we are separated by mountains, by sea, so many miles away, at that part of the day on Sunday, you here in America, you say the Lord's Prayer, and you say the Apostle's Creed." he told me. "At the same time in the Papua New Guinea church we say that same prayer. That binds us together as one big family. I am glad that I am (a) witness to that." Teo said his own pastor prays every Sunday for people throughout the world including those of us who live in North America. "These are the people we are praying for, and I actually met them," he said.
It is easy for North Americans like me to forget that there are millions of people of faith throughout the world, who, like me, go to church each week and worship the same Lord in the almost the same way. Isaac Teo reminded me that the common faith we Lutherans share should never be taken for granted. Our common faith sustains and enriches all of us.
John
Recently, I met with an interesting person who traveled here from a long, long way away. He is Isaac Teo, recently elected as general secretary of the 900,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea. Teo had been a participant at the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto and visited the ELCA offices in Chicago last month before going home.
Teo has an unusual background -- he spent several years as a corporate planner and communication engineer. During those years he was a church volunteer serving on councils and boards. We talked about his background and how he came to be in the role of general secretary. We talked about his church's work to minister to people with HIV and people with AIDS.
But it was something he said about the importance of global Lutheran church partnerships that struck me. From his point of view the wider church -- in this case -- Lutherans in North America -- helped him understand what it means to be "one" church. I could see it was important for him to tell me this.
"Even though we are separated by mountains, by sea, so many miles away, at that part of the day on Sunday, you here in America, you say the Lord's Prayer, and you say the Apostle's Creed." he told me. "At the same time in the Papua New Guinea church we say that same prayer. That binds us together as one big family. I am glad that I am (a) witness to that." Teo said his own pastor prays every Sunday for people throughout the world including those of us who live in North America. "These are the people we are praying for, and I actually met them," he said.
It is easy for North Americans like me to forget that there are millions of people of faith throughout the world, who, like me, go to church each week and worship the same Lord in the almost the same way. Isaac Teo reminded me that the common faith we Lutherans share should never be taken for granted. Our common faith sustains and enriches all of us.
John
