LWF Council to meet online, 18-23 June
LWF Council meeting, 2019: Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
Governing body to reflect on response to COVID-19, plans for 2022, elect next General Secretary
(LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council will hold its annual meeting online, 18-23 June. LWF President Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa, head of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, will formally open the meeting.
The LWF governing body will receive and discuss the Address of the LWF President. The member church representatives will also reflect on the Report of the General Secretary Rev. Dr Martin Junge, including the Communion Office work during exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2022 budget. The Finance Committee chairperson Oberkirchenrat Olaf Johannes Mirgeler will present an overview of the organization’s finances.
On the agenda on 19 June is the election of the next General Secretary from two candidates presented by a search committee appointed by the Council. The search committee has proposed Rev. Anne Burghardt, Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe. Burghardt is Head of Development at the church’s Institute of Theology, and Advisor for International and Ecumenical Relations. Mtata is General Secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches.
Progress on preparations for the 2023 Thirteenth Assembly in Krakow, Poland, will be presented by the chairperson of the Assembly Planning Committee (APC), Presiding Bishop Dr. Tamás Fabiny, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary. The Council will take action on proposed terms of reference for the International Worship Planning Committee and members of the group, whose mandate is to plan and organize worship and prayer during the Assembly.
An in-person meeting of the LWF governing body is scheduled to take place in Geneva in November.
The Council meeting will include opening and closing prayers led by Council members.
The 18 to 23 June LWF Council meeting will take place online, in view of restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The LWF Council normally meets in person every year, and is the highest authority of the LWF between assemblies. It consists of the President, the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, and 48 members from LWF member churches in seven regions.
