“One Body, One Spirit, One Hope” – Report of the Thirteenth LWF Assembly
Highlights from 2023 Lutheran communion gathering and shared commitments for the future
(LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has published its 2023 Thirteenth Assembly Report. The publication, which has been shared with LWF’s member churches and governing bodies, highlights key moments of the highest decision-making body of the LWF and the organization’s priority commitments for the next seven years.
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt invites churches to “read this report with a perspective on the commitments churches have made together, and how they apply to the witness of the Lutheran communion at the local church level and globally.”
Read this report with a perspective on the commitments churches have made together, and how they apply to the witness of the Lutheran communion at the local church level and globally
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt
The assembly was held, 13-19 September, hosted by the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, in the city of Kraków.
Under the assembly theme — “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope”—the report is a compilation of the key outcomes: message, public statements and resolutions; the keynote address and other presentations on the assembly theme; and reports on LWF’s work over a seven-year period. Also featured is daily worship and Bible study; a session dedicated to LWF’s ecumenical engagement; and greetings from the host church and city, and from ecumenical and development partners.
The Thirteenth Assembly was the second since LWF’s founding to be held in Central Eastern Europe. The regional and local contexts are captured in Sunday worship at different congregations in Poland, neighboring Czech Republic and Slovakia. A tour and special prayer at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, also stood out as a way of lamenting the violence at the former Nazi concentration camp, and a reminder of commitment to renewal and reconciliation.
More than 1,300 women, men and youth, including 327 delegates from the 150 LWF member churches attended the Thirteenth Assembly. The report includes a variety of photos of participants and presenters, with many more available on the Assembly album of the online LWF photo library.
Read the report under our resources. The German, French and Spanish versions of the report will be added soon.
