The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) congratulates its new General Secretary, the Reverend Anne Burghardt of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
On 1 November 2021, All Saints’ Day, Anne Burghardt takes up her duties in the office of General Secretary of the LWF. She is the first woman, as well as the first person from Central and Eastern Europe, to hold a leadership position at this level.
Anne Burghardt was elected to this office by the LWF Council on 17 June this year. The office of General Secretary involves leading the global Lutheran communion, which comprises 148 member churches. Before her election to the LWF office, the 45-year-old theologian and pastor worked as development director of the Institute of Theology of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tallinn, as well as her church’s advisor on international and ecumenical relations. Burghardt succeeds the Rev. Dr. Martin Junge, who served as General Secretary of the LWF from 2010 to 2021.
Burghardt’s installation in office will take place on 17 November this year at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.
Reflecting on the task ahead of her, Burghardt said:
“The life of the LWF is the life of a communion in which churches witness and work together to achieve justice, peace and dignity for all people in the world. I pray to God that my work will contribute to the common growth of these churches as we all gather around Jesus Christ – the one who unites us all in our mission in the world.”
“I pray to God that my work will contribute to the common growth of these churches as we all gather around Jesus Christ – the one who unites us all in our mission in the world.”
— LWF General Secretary, Rev. Anne Burghardt
At the top of her list of priorities, the new General Secretary places overseeing the implementation of the LWF strategy “With Passion for the Church and for the World”.
General Secretary Burghardt will also set the main directions for the LWF Assembly, which will be held in September 2023 in Kraków, Poland.
Source: LWF/P. Hitchen
Photo: The Lutheran World Federation/LWF/A. Danielsson