Youth from LWF member churches will mutually learn and share experiences. They will gain leadership skills, ecumenical and theological knowledge.

This is a follow-up to the August 2015 international workshop of the Global Young Reformers Network, also held in Wittenberg. During the first week at the “youngPointreformation,” the participants from 14 churches representing all the seven LWF regions will share about youth work in their respective churches, facilitate workshops on their Living Reformation projects and offer prayers, songs and games to visiting youth and confirmation candidates.

During the second week at the LWF Heaven’s Tent, the 18 young people will offer daily workshops about their ideas of ongoing reformation in the Lutheran churches, movie screening, and cultural presentations from around the world.

In four years, the Global Young Reformers Network program has equipped Lutheran youth for leadership and trained them on project management.

Those taking part in Wittenberg come from the following churches:

• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• Lutheran Church of Australia
• Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil
• Lutheran Church in Chile
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia
• Evangelical Church in Central Germany
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
• Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (Indonesia)
• Lutheran Church in Liberia
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea
• Lutheran Church in the Philippines
• German Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Ukraine
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zambia
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe

The program is supported by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in Germany.

LWF Youth Desk and the Youth department of the Evangelical Church in Central Germany are organizing the event.

Leaders from the 10 LWF member churches in LUCCWA will discuss churches’ active engagement in the global SDGs and explore involvement in Africa’s Agenda 2063. Similar to the SDGs, the AU’s strategic framework for socio-economic transformation seeks to enhance implementation of past and current African initiatives for the continent’s growth and sustainable development.

Hosted by the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL), the summit coincides with an ecumenical worship service to commemorate 500 years of the Reformation jointly organized by the LCL and the Roman Catholic Church. LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge, a participant in the summit, will preach at the service, which will be attended by representatives of other churches in Liberia, and by the country’s Vice-President Mr Joseph Boakai.

Access to quality education and health services plays a pivotal role in reducing extreme poverty and boosting economic growth. However, women and children are often left behind.

The workshop uses the perspectives of gender justice and child rights to focus on health and education. The participants will be equipped with contemporary skills to enable churches in Africa to engage more effectively in education and health provision. This especially means ensuring equal access to these basic services and guaranteeing the rights of the vulnerable and marginalized people. Diaconal actors, women, youth and church leaders will be encouraged to work with government and civil society in a meaningful way when it comes to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals focusing on health, education and gender equality.

The event will be in English with whispering interpretation in French.

Hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

Download the agenda

Worship Services from six continents

On Reformation day the Lutheran World Federation will invite you on a trip around the world and across the seven LWF regions to witness how the Reformation has become a global citizen.

A live stream of worship services from 11:00-23:00 CET, will show the rich diversity and unity of the Lutheran churches as they commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

This journey will also feature three ecumenical services, demonstrating the spirit of ecumenical accountability with which the LWF has commemorated the 500th Reformation anniversary.

The program also include information about the seven regions,  the 145 member churches and the ongoing reformation.

We also invite viewers to be part of this global journey by sharing their impressions on social media.

Follow this event

Join us on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube for a Reformation Day to remember.

The LWF delegation advocates ecumenically for climate justice at the UN Climate Change Conference COP23. We raise new climate leaders and support our churches engagement for climate justice.

For the LWF, climate change is a question of justice, peace, the care for creation, and human rights. It is also a question of justice between people, nations, and generations. As a young delegation, and people of faith, the LWF delegation to COP23 focuses on intergenerational responsibility to care for creation and stand in solidarity with our neighbours. 

The delegation of 12 young Lutherans from all over the world will advocate, campaign and bring a faith-voice to the negotiations together with its ecumenical partners (ACT Alliance, WCC, Worldwide YMCA).

Because the LWF wants to be part of the solution, in June 2015, its Council voted not invest in fossil fuels and the LWF Twelfth Assembly in May 2017 “called upon the global communion to strengthen its efforts even more for climate justice".

Find more information on this  subject at:

LWF on Climate Justice

LWF COP Delegations

LWF Assembly Resolution on Climate Change

ACT Alliance: Climate Change Advocacy Framework Position (2016 – 2018)

The event will be in English and German.

The Asian Church Leadership Conference (ACLC) which gathers in Manila, Philippines, brings together church leaders from the 54 member churches in Asia, of the LWF. Mission partners who are active in the Asia region are also invited. The theme of the conference is  "Asia Communion at the Crossroads: Discerning Our Journey Together". Among the topics to be discussed are:

• Thematic priorities and programmatic areas for the Asia region in the next 3 years.
• Situations and needs in the three sub-regions and member churches.
• Collaboration between sub-regions and among member churches.
• Awareness and ownership of the LWF processes in Asia.

This will be done in light of the decisions made at the LWF 12th Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia, as well as a follow-up to the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. The ACLC will be jointly hosted by the local church, the Lutheran Church in the Philippines, and the Lutheran World Federation’s Department for Mission and Development.

The joint Catholic-Lutheran Commemoration of the Reformation in Lund and Malmö, Sweden, on 31 October 2016 marked a very important ecumenical moment. As a sign of continuous commitment with the one ecumenical movement the Lund Cross created for the Joint Commemoration will be placed in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre. The cross will be dedicated during a service on the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 18 January.

The Catholic Church will be represented by H.E. Kurt Cardinal Koch, the LWF by Rev. Dr Martin Junge and the WCC by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. Cardinal Koch and Rev. Dr Kaisamari Hintikka will preach together.

The service was live streamed on Facebook.

Coffee and refreshments will be offered following the service. 

Order of worship

Sermon by Kurt Cardinal Koch

Sermon by Rev. Dr Kaisamari Hintikka

Read more about the Lund Cross

“Freely you have received, freely give.”  (Matthew 10:8, NIV)

This verse from Matthew has been chosen as the Council meeting 2018 theme. This passage invites us to not only recognize the freely given Grace of God but also to commit and walk the path of gifting.

The Lutheran World Federation's annual governance meeting takes place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 28 June to 2 July 2018. On 27 June the LWF Executive Committee will meet and a Pre-Council meeting for women and youth will take place.

The LWF Council meets once a year and is responsible for LWF business between Assemblies. It consists of:

• the President
• the Chairperson of the Finance Committee
• 48 lay or ordained people, from LWF member churches in seven regions.

Members of this Council were appointed at the 2017 Twelfth Assembly.

View More News

LWF Council News

The LWF Strategy in Bahasa Indonesia and Swahili 21 February 2019 GENEVA New LWF member: United Evangelical Church in Cuba Lutheran Synod 23 January 2019 SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba / GENEVA Witnessing through dialogue, education and women’s empowerment in the Holy Land 11 January 2019 JERUSALEM /GENEVA New LWF member: Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala 16 November 2018 GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala/GENEVA

View All Resources

Resources

Council 2022 documents 25 May 2022 Download exhibits and other Council 2022 related documents Department for Planning and Coordination Council 2021 documents 16 June 2021 Download exhibits and other Council 2021 related documents Department for Planning and Coordination Council 2019 documents 5 June 2019 Download exhibits and other Council 2019 related documents Department for World Service Council 2018 documents 20 June 2018 Download exhibits and other Council 2018 related documents Department for World Service

Though many are one body

Under the theme “Though many are one body” (I Cor. 12:12), the meeting aims to strengthen collaboration and relationships among member churches in the region and in the communion. This includes finding mechanisms to boost the Africa regional and sub-regional expressions.

Program points:

• discuss and follow-up issues from the 2017 LWF Assembly, especially those pertinent to the region and the communion
• deliberate on preparations for the 2019 regional leadership consultation
• discuss issues in preparation for the LWF 2018 Council meeting
• agree strategies to implement common activities, including Confronting Poverty and Economic Injustice in Africa, the program through which the region’s churches engage communities living in poverty in initiatives that seek grassroots solutions to overcome marginalization 

Host Church: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana

Departments: Department for Mission and Development

Language: English with French interpretation

Women Countering Gender-based Violence: A Practical Asian Approach

Women delegates reflect on how to find practical ways to overcome gender-based violence in their local churches and communities.

Registration deadline: 15 June

Invitation: By invitation only

Language: English

Department: Department for Mission and Development

Program: Communion Building