As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations, the LWF has established a Communion Solidarity Fund to which all member churches are invited to contribute to support each other in challenging times.
All LWF member churches are invited to contribute to the fund as an expression of mutual commitment to each other. Photo: LWF/Eugenio Albrecht
Every member church invited: an expression of mutual commitment to each other
(LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has established a Communion Solidarity Fund to secure readily available resources for churches during unpredictable emergencies.
All LWF member churches have been invited to contribute to the fund as an ongoing expression of their mutual commitment as churches in communion. Starting this initiative is part of activities marking LWF’s 75th anniversary in 2022.
The fund “aims to enable the communion to keep standing together as churches, thereby expressing communion mutuality and solidarity as one major identity marker of the LWF,” said LWF General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt.
“All of us are invited to enrich each other with their gifts, express relationships and mutual commitment with whatever small or big contribution each church can give,” Burghardt encouraged churches. A range from EUR 100 to EUR 10,000 is suggested.
We invite you to contribute according to your ability
– LWF General Secretary Rev. Anne Burghardt
Several churches have already pledged contributions. The importance of such a fund was clearly shown by the Lutheran communion’s expression of solidarity during the immediate and prolonged-impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through the Rapid Response Fund (RRF).
When many congregations, families and entire communities, especially in low-income countries turned to churches to provide emergency food, pastoral care and other needs, the RRF granted short-term grants of up to EUR 10,000. Between April 2020 when the fund was set up and early December 2022, over EUR 1.3 million had been disbursed to 90 LWF member churches, resulting in 199 projects implemented in 57 countries around the world.
The COVID-19 RRF turned out to be an important instrument of solidarity in a difficult time, Burghardt noted. In the coming years, the Communion Solidarity Fund will build on this strength to address the many other urgent needs requiring a rapid, short-term response due to unforeseen developments such as conflicts, natural disasters, public health concerns or other emergencies affecting member churches and their wider communities.
