Global Lutheran conference wraps up in Kiev
Filed Under: CELC, Convention, ukraine
Members and guests of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC) have wrapped up their sixth triennial convention—held this year in Kiev, Ukraine.
About 85 participants representing almost 20 church bodies from around the world in doctrinal fellowship with WELS and the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) met June 3-5. The WELS delegation was led by President Mark Schroeder. Representatives from three African churches were unable to secure travel visas and so were unable to attend.
Among other things, the convention authorized establishment of a committee to look at ways to collaborate theological training efforts among the ten CELC-affiliated seminaries worldwide—including Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon and Bethany Lutheran Seminary in Mankato, Minn.
"We want to find ways to leverage our rich deposit of theological heritage across various seminaries, especially through distance learning," says Rev. Dan Koelpin, administrator for WELS Board for World Missions and vice president of the CELC. Koelpin says the goal is to speed up the process of developing national pastors in mission fields worldwide by giving seminary students access to a wider variety of sound Lutheran theologians.
The ongoing objective of the conventions is to give national pastors—who are often isolated in their work—a chance to share ideas and encourage each other. "It's vital for us," says Rev. Igor Logvinov of the Confessional Lutheran Church in Siberia, Russia. "Conferences like this remind you that you are not alone in his world; you have brothers of the same faith, the same confession who carry the same cross."
For more information about the CELC, go to: www.celc.info
