Council visit inaugurates new Communion Office

In a short greeting to the president and Council members, General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt said she was confident that the new premises would be a welcoming space and that cooperation would continue with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and many other Christian partners who were previously located at the Ecumenical Center.

Ecumenical partnerships continue

Speaking on behalf of the WCC, Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, Program Director for Unity, Mission and Ecumenical Formation, said that after 60 years of sharing the same space, “our journey together in Christ continues” for the sake of spreading the good news of the gospel. The “deep-rooted mutual recognition” and cooperation between the LWF and WCC continues, she added, so that “we need not do alone, what we can do together.”

Another longtime partner, Dr Christoph Stückelberger, founder and president of Globethics, also gave greetings to the Council members, while Rev. Veronica Pålsson, a young Church of Sweden pastor and Council member, led prayers of thanksgiving and blessing for the work of the Communion Office.

President Stubkjær described the head office as “a hub for world Lutheranism which, through the decades, has brought people together from across the whole world.” He said the open-plan layout of the new office recalls one of the LWF’s core values of transparency and accountability.

The LWF leader concluded with a prayer that the new office “will continue to spark insightful ideas and foster strong collaboration” in order to “share hope and empower member churches.”