Asia Lutheran Communion

Communication - the cornerstone of communion

Communication is an inseparable part of the daily life of the churches. All what we do or leave without doing communicates our values and our objectives. Thus we cannot "not" to communicate. Churches have used all means of communication in the history. Printing press was a new invention during the reformation time and Luther was utilizing this new technology extensively.

A recent academic study on discussion of ecumenical communication has revealed that we have two different understandings of the meaning of the communication in the churches.

First common understanding of the communication is to disseminate news from the head quarters to the members. This model was prevalent in the era of radio and newspaper. A feedback possibility is added to this model after some discussion.

Second important function of the communication is to build up communion. Without communication there is no communion. To build real participatory communion we need to have participatory communication. We need dialog and two-way communication between the participants of the communion. Without communication the communion does not live. The same happens in a family when there is not enough communication. They begin to have less and less common and it causes a lack of understanding.

Asia Lutheran News has a two-fold task: First it has to disseminate the news from the region and act as a feedback channel. Secondly ALN is building an Asian communion of LWF. This is very much in line with the recent name change of LWF. ALN helps churches to learn to know each other and thus to understand the situation in a different context.

We can not do this work without an active participation of the readers and therefore we are happy to invite you to contribute news from your region to ALN. Thus we also welcome all feedback from you in form of letters from audience or by submitting your ideas to the ALN editorial team.

Together we can build this newsletter to serve the region and the Lutheran world in a best possible way.

Timo Reuhkala
Christian Education and Communication Consultancy, LWF/DMD

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