Looking for peace together 

For 40 years, LWF Central America has been working in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. There, common threats to vulnerable populations include limited, fragmented economic growth; forced and voluntary migration; continued violation of basic human rights; militarization and insecurity; and natural disasters. In 2021, LWF Central America supported more than 29,000 people including different projects in response to COVID-19. 

On 24 October 2023, the program will celebrate 40 years of work. On this occasion, the LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt will visit the program. 

Building capacity for faith and rights-based advocacy 

Working with ecumenical partners, the World Council of Churches, Norwegian Church Aid and Finn Church Aid, LWF provides participants with an opportunity to explore effective strategies for faith and rights-based advocacy.  

Taking place in Geneva, this training also offers participants the opportunity for practical engagement with UN mechanisms during the course of the week, including the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the (Universal Periodic Review (UPR). 

In addition, the diverse backgrounds of participants lay the foundations for effective networking, peer learning and sharing.

Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management 

Organized by the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Council of Churches, the Council for World Mission, the World Methodist Council and the Lutheran World Federation, this training brings together economic actors, church employees, indigenous people and others to learn together about how to advocate for economic justice.  

 The GEM School has the following objectives:

• Identify theological starting points for economic justice (i.e. why and how theology and ethics are deeply related to economic life) 
• Provide a basic understanding of mainstream economic thinking 
• Identify economic models and their consequences in different regional contexts  
• Widen the horizon of economics by introducing ecological, feminist and other pluralistic approaches 
• Develop an interdisciplinary structure for bridging theological and economic thinking and action 
• Lay out the political and strategic implications for churches and their advocacy for an Economy of Life in the context of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. 

Dieses Training konzentriert sich auf das Spannungsfeld zwischen Mediation und Konfliktprävention einerseits und Menschenrechtsschutz andererseits.  

Die Ziele dieses Trainings, das in Partnerschaft mit dem Ökumenischen Rat der Kirchen, der Weltgemeinschaft Reformierter Kirchen, Brot für die Welt, Evangelische Mission Weltweit, Misereor und der Vereinten Evangelischen Mission organisiert wird, sind: 

• Praktiker, Akademiker und kirchliche Akteure zusammenzubringen, um etwas über Konflikttransformation und Friedensförderung zu lernen 
• Mechanismen des Menschenrechtsschutzes und der Advocacy kennenzulernen
• das Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Konfliktlösung und Menschenrechtsschutz zu erkunden   
• bewährte Praktiken auszutauschen und ihre Anpassungsfähigkeit in den verschiedenen Kontexten der Teilnehmer zu untersuchen 
• Vernetzung und Unterstützung der weiteren Zusammenarbeit in den Bereichen Friedenskonsolidierung, Anwaltschaft und Menschenrechtsschutz

Studienkurs des Instituts für Ökumenische Forschung

In diesem Online-Kurs werden die wichtigsten ökumenischen Entwicklungen der letzten sechzig Jahre untersucht, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf den Beziehungen zwischen Lutheranern und Katholiken, Mennoniten, Orthodoxen und Pfingstlern liegt.

Die Teilnehmenden werden gebeten, über die Beziehungen zwischen den Kirchen in ihren eigenen Ländern zu berichten, Herausforderungen zu erörtern und Instrumente zur Förderung der Annäherung zwischen den Kirchen in den verschiedenen Kontexten zu entwickeln.

Mit einer Höchstzahl von 20 Teilnehmenden wird die Tagung auch dazu dienen, die Beziehungen zwischen den LWB-Mitgliedskirchen zu stärken und den Aufbau von Kirchengemeinschaften zu fördern.

Seit 1965 arbeitet das Institut in Strassburg daran, die lutherischen Kirchen der Welt auf ihrem Weg zur christlichen Einheit durch theologische Analysen und Beratung zu unterstützen.

Offen für alle, mit Empfehlung ihrer Kirchenleitung.

Engaging faith actors to effectively prevent, mitigate and respond to sexual and gender-based violence

Lutheran World Federation, in collaboration with World Vision (WV) Episcopal Relief and Development, Tearfund, UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, and Vista Hermosa Foundation are convening this half day event which will appreciate promising initiatives and programming that is integrating faith into SGBV prevention/mitigation/response, with some extra attention to those being implemented in emergencies.

The event will engage civil society organizations, multilateral organizations, donors, researchers, and other faith and secular actors to network and collaborate with one another to end SGBV. 

Churches confront sexual and gender-based violence 

Violence against women in all its forms is the most pervasive and detrimental expression of injustice. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) exists in the domestic sphere, the world of work, even in church and religious traditions. The negative impact on individuals, and on the spiritual wholeness of the community, calls for the church to intentionally address these inequalities. 

Shaping the global communion and strengthening the priesthood of all believers 

The seminar will focus on the biblical and Lutheran vision as well as values of church leadership.  The 22 lay leaders from 22 LWF member churches around the world will have an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of being a leader in the Lutheran communion and learn more about LWF’s work. This will be the first post-pandemic in-person gathering in the annual series of trainings hosted by the Communion Office and the LWF Center in Wittenberg.   

Spiritual exchange, sharing joys and challenges, building networks, and learning about being Lutheran in diverse contexts across the global communion are integral parts of the seminar. 

Über seinen humanitären und entwicklungspolitischen Arm, den Weltdienst, hilft der LWB 3,5 Millionen bedürftigen Menschen in 28 Ländern der Welt.

Das Treffen bringt die Managementteams der LWB-Länderprogramme und die LWB-Zentrale in Genf zusammen, um bewährte Praktiken, kontextuelle Herausforderungen und andere Aspekte ihrer gemeinsamen Arbeit für Hoffnung und Zukunft zu diskutieren.

The LWF Council meets once a year and is responsible for LWF business between Assemblies. It consists of: 

• the President 
• the Chairperson of the Finance Committee 
• 48 lay or ordained people, from LWF member churches in seven regions. 

Members of this Council were appointed at the 2017 Twelfth Assembly.