This project was initiated in 2022. It aims at fostering church unity among formerly black and white Lutheran churches by resuming unity talks that were interrupted for various reasons in 2008. It focuses on racial divisions and the search for unity in the Lutheran churches.
The primary objective of this project has been to get clarity on the issues that divide the formerly white and black Lutheran churches as well as the break-away Lutheran churches. This is a slow process because an atmosphere of trust needs to be created before the different role players agree to express their views in public. Many participants, including , bishops, clergy, and lay ministers expressed how wounded they still are today.
To date, two academic papers have been submitted or will shortly be submitted to peer-reviewed academic journals for publication.
They deal respectively with:
- The suspension of two white Southern African
Lutheran churches from the Lutheran World
Federation at the August 1984 General Assembly in
Budapest.
- The history of the Lutheran House of Studies (Luthos) and the Lutheran Theological Institute (LTI) from 1985 to 2015