The Lutheran World Federation has congratulated the bishop of Lund, Dr Antje Jackelen, on her election as the next archbishop of the Church of Sweden.
In his letter to Jackelen, LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge expressed his joy that the Church of Sweden has chosen a leader who will bring to her new task “a rootedness in the global church” and an understanding “of the richness and diversity of the global Lutheran communion”.
Junge said: “Your gifts of theological understanding, pastoral care and perception, and principled leadership will be put to good use in this new field of your ministry.”
In the election in Uppsala on 15 October, Jackelen obtained 55.9 percent in the first round of voting from the followers of the outgoing archbishop, Anders H. Wejryd. She will be the first woman to lead the Church of Sweden.
Jackelen is a member of the LWF Council and serves on its Committee for Theology and Ecumenical Relations. The General Secretary emphasized her leading role in the LWF Council and other international bodies, as well as her experience in both studying and teaching in Germany and the USA.
The LWF celebrates Jackelen’s election also as a confirmation that “one of the LWF’s gifts to the global church is the commitment to involve both women and men in church and society”, Junge noted. However, he expressed the hope that a day would one day come “when the gender of the elected leaders will no longer be the main news, but rather what particular gifts he or she brings to the ministry”.
Jackelen studied at the universities of Tübingen (Germany) and Uppsala and Lund (Sweden) and taught systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, USA. After her ordination in 1980, she served as a parish minister in Stockholm and Lund, and in 2007 became the bishop of the diocese of Lund. In June 2014 she will be installed as archbishop of the Church of Sweden – succeeding Wejryd, who has led the church since 2006.
The Church of Sweden is the largest LWF member church, with more than 6.5 million members.
Translated from English by Ieva Puriņa, Mag.Theol., LELBāL deacon
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe