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Eight dead after flash flood at Ethiopian seminary
Flooding at Mekane Yesus Seminar y.
ETHIOPIA - Eight people, including three children, are dead following flash flooding at Mekane Yesus Seminary in Addis Ababa on August 17, 2021. “We request your prayers in this tragic moment,” the seminary writes. “It is with heavy hearts to lose eight and say goodbye.” In addition to the tragic loss of life, there is extensive damage to seminary property, including
residences. The seminary reports damage to 21 buildings, to roads, and to other infrastructure. Multiple families and students have been displaced, and the seminary was forced to suspend classes in the aftermath. Mekane Yesus Seminary is a theological institute of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), the world’s largest Lutheran church body. In a letter to leaders of the EECMY and the seminary, General Secretary Timothy Quill of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) expressed condolences and assured the Ethiopian church that Lutherans around the globe are naming them in prayer. “Our shared grief over the loss of life and property is deep,” he wrote. “However, for those who died in the flood, the Apostle Paul reminds us that we do not grieve as others
who have no hope. Our hope is in Jesus who died and rose again, and at His coming He will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).” “Our prayer is that you will find encouragement and strength to meet the challenging days ahead, knowing that it is our Lord’s Church and that He loves His Bride and her seminary,” Dr. Quill continued. “He promised to be with you always to the end of the age. It is our ascended Lord who gives the gifts of pastors for works of service to His Church (Ephesians 4:7-12). The Lord has given the EECMY the gift of a marvelous seminary in which faithful pastors will continue to be trained to preach the Gospel to the lost and give evangelical pastoral care to His faithful baptized children.” ILC News
Australian, German leaders who led churches to partnership with LCC pass on to glory WORLD - The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) and Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (Selbständige EvangelischLutherische Kirche - SELK) are mourning the deaths of former leaders who led their respective church bodies into partnership with Lutheran Church– Canada (LCC). The Lutheran Church of Australia’s former president, Rev. Dr. Lance Graham Steicke, passed on to glory on September 10, 2021, at the age of 88. Dr. Steicke was elected president of the LCA in 1987 and served in that position until his retirement in 2000. Among other work, he led the Australian church into partnership with Lutheran Church–Canada. Dr. Steicke and Rev. Dr. Edwin Lehman, then president of Lutheran Church–Canada, officially signed a Recognition of Relationship between
the two church bodies on January 30, 1994 at a meeting in Winnipeg. On September 22, 2021, Rev. Dr. Jobst Schöne, Bishop Emeritus of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church also entered into glory. He was 89 years old. Dr. Schöne served as bishop of SELK from 1986 until retiring in 1996. In July 1991, Dr. Schöne and Dr. Lehman signed a protocol document declaring fellowship between LCC and SELK during the latter’s convention in Wisbaden, Germany. Later that year, Dr. Schöne was elected to serve as Vice Chairman of the International Lutheran Council (ILC) alongside Dr. Lehman, who was elected as Chairman. They served two terms together in those positions. Fuller details on the lives and ministries of Dr. Steicke and Dr. Schöne are available on the website of the International Lutheran Council at www.ilc-online.org.
L C C - S E L K : S E L K B i s h o p Jo b s t S ch ö n e and LCC President Edwin Lehman sign a declaration of fellowship between the two churches in 1991.
LCA-LCC: LCA President Lance Steicke and LCC President Edwin Lehman sign a partnership agreement between the two churches in 1994.
THE CANADIAN LUTHERAN September/October 2021
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