FINLAND & PALESTINE Proceedings of a Joint Workshop

Development ofChurch Relations
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tant churches - especially to the ELCJHL, but as far as I know,
such attempts did not result any lasting cooperation.
Only with the time will we know the outcome of a new, three
party agreement between ELCF Kuopio diocese, ElOHL, and
FELM that has been negotiated, and will be signed in February
2009. This new agreement, at least now, seems to have better
prospects than Lapua had.
Practical notes
When Finnish Archbishop Paarma visited ElOHL, some 8 years
ago, the Finnish delegation came to the conclusion that "There
in no clear picture in Finland about the situation of ELO, and
what goals the church has set to itself."19
There were also 12 recommendations. Some of those have
been followed up, but some are probably not. There has been
no organized follow up, at least no such records have been
found. It may be that the present situation FELM is acting in,
between these two sides, creates a sort of semi-vacuum of
responsibility.
To overcome this, each time an ELCF/ElOHL representative or
delegation visits, some kind of report should be submitted to
CIR in Finland, and to the Church Council of ELOHL One person
on each side should be nominated to be responsible for
keeping notes on the process and follow up. These should be
made available, so that, change of personnel would not mean
loss of essential information.
19 Jaaskelainen: Report of Archbishop Paarma's visit
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