When Lutherans met Anglicans

Danes on a fact-finding trip to London

In late October a group of Danish Lutherans embarked on a study tour of London to see how the Lutheran church is faring there and to become better acquainted with the Anglican Church, the new Porvoo partner. The fact-finding, interactive trip was for members of various Danish diocesan councils and was arranged by the secretariat of the Council on International Relations.

 

The first meeting was with the Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain, Jana Jeruma-Grinberga, and Rev Torbjørn Holt, who is the Norwegian student chaplain in the UK as well as in France, Spain, Italy and Ireland! They spoke about the pastoral care of the 180,000 Lutherans living in the UK, of the ten different Lutheran churches that have congregations or chaplaincies there, and how, surprisingly, the first Lutherans in the country were deemed heretics by Henry VIII, despite his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, being herself a Lutheran when they met. 

 

The group then visited the Danish Lutheran Church of St. Catherine’s off Regent’s Park, where Pastor Else Hviid explained how the church was a home from home for many Danes and was also a thriving language centre for English spouses and their children. A good deal of her time goes with fundraising, since the church is self-financed.

 

Low church and high church
The following morning the group visited Church House Conference Centre to meet Dr Anders Bergquist – a native Swede now Vicar of St. John’s Wood Church of England church and a member of the Church of England Porvoo Panel. He spoke warmly of the arrival of the Danes into the fellowship and explained that among the differences with the Danish set-up is that the Church of England is a private organisation; that
it runs 25% of all primary and middle schools in the country (and 6% of all secondary schools), and that the emphasis for all churches is on serving the community. 

On the negative side Dr Bergquist lamented the increase in management philosophy in the Church of England and the lack of scholarship among priests, e.g. an increasing number cannot read the Bible in its original languages.

 

The afternoon began with a visit to an ‘'Emerging Church', namely St Peter’s Barge, London's only Floating Church at West India Quay in the heart of the new docklands. Here the evangelically orientated Pastor Marcus Nodder spoke of how busy workers found a breathing-space from their busy pursuit of financial success in the lunchtime services on the barge. Late in the afternoon the contrast between low church (on the barge) and high church (Evensong at Westminster Abbey) emphasised the breadth of the Church of England. 

 

The Tent as meeting-place for sharing faith experiences
The final morning was spent at St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation and Peace near Liverpool Street in a medieval church almost completely destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1993. Rebuilt as a peace centre it welcomes over 10,000 visitors a year who “share stories, skills and insights about how we can build relationships across divisions of conflict, culture and religion." Of particular interest was the round Bedouin Tent, a meeting-place for people of different faiths to explore their differences and share their experiences. 

 

By Edward Broadbridge

Picture: Chairwoman of the Council Hanna Broadbridge and Anders Bergquist (by Thorsten Rørbæk)

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