On Friday, 7 September, the members of the Trilateral Apartheid Commission met on the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Tshwane. The Commission consists of delegates from three sister churches and their joint mission society: The Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA), the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany (SELK), the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA), and the Mission of Lutheran Churches (MLC, known in Germany as Lutherische Kirchenmission or LKM). The Commission is chaired by Prof. em. Dr. Werner Klän (SELK), while the managing director is Bishop em. David Tswaedi, DD (LCSA).
The Commission finalized the content of a reader documenting the available recorded history of the churches in question and the mission. At the same time, it is clear that the documentation is sorely incomplete due to the lack of oral history reflecting statements by eyewitnesses. The process of recording the oral history by means of interviews is turning out to be more difficult and protracted than expected.
The Commission agreed that this project needs to be completed as soon as possible, and so the chairman was requested to direct a written request to the participating churches highlighting the urgency of and need for ongoing cooperation, even after the publication of the reader.
All members are convinced that the events of the past continue to define in some ways and to burden the relationships between the sister churches. This makes it all the more imperative to continue with such multilateral dialogues, in order to promote reciprocal understanding in the congregations.
(Translated from SELK News)
