TOLERANCE IN OUR SOCIETIES AND CHURCHES
FINAL AGREEMENT
The topic of tolerance has been discussed by 24 participants, representing Lutheran Churches from various countries and the Protestant Church of China. They achieved the following agreement.
“You are the salt of the earth. (…). You are the light of the world. (…). Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)
We as young Christians are called to be an example and to have influence in churches and societies.
We define tolerance as: bearing the differences we recognise in this diverse world created by God.
We are called to tolerate each person as God’s creation because of His grace and love. This doesn’t mean that we always agree with everyone’s behaviour and position, because we don’t want to compromise our Christian belief and identity.
In accordance to our conscience, given and influenced by the Holy Spirit, everyone is called to identify his or her own limit of tolerance.
With this, we want to reach the following aims:
- “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
- To promote love in practising our faith
- To reach acceptance by understanding others’ different points of view
- To respect diversity
- To call people to recognise their sins and to witness God’s grace
- To live in a peaceful and fair society
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12)
Participants from Australia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany, Tanzania, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Brazil
