LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt speaking at the 2024 Council meeting in Chavannes-de-Bogis, Switzerland. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
LWF General Secretary Anne Burghardt calls on Christians to “transform the world around us”
(LWI) – In her New Year message for 2025, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt reminds Christians to “cultivate a critical and prayerful mind.” As followers of Christ, “We are not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds,” she says. “Through this, we are called to transform the world around us.”
Burghardt reminds Christians to follow this year’s watchword — “Test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil”— amid many religious and secular “‘spirits’ and prophecies” that surround “our daily lives.”
Test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil.
– 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Some of those “remind us of the importance of respecting human dignity, starting with what unites us rather than what divides us as a human family.” Others “exploit our anxieties, sowing fear and demonizing certain groups, which can lead to their dehumanization, sometimes alongside apocalyptic rhetoric.” Also, there are those who “urge us to follow various paths to self-realization, promising that we can become our own saviors—if only we try hard enough.”
The General Secretary says, “A community of hope sees a sibling in every human being.” Also, “It takes seriously what Scripture teaches about encountering Jesus Christ in every person in need” and “speaks out against injustice, so that righteousness may roll down like an ever-flowing stream.” It supports “the gifts of all its members regardless of ethnicity or gender” and “takes seriously the task to nurture God’s creation.”
LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt planting a tree at the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC) Head Office in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: LWF/Natalia Jidovanu
She reminds the LWF communion of Jesus’s teaching that “every good tree bears good fruit” (Mt 7:17). She says, “We can recognize what is good by the results, the actions, and how relationships are shaped. We know we are on the right path when beliefs and actions lead to or strengthen ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’” (Gal 5:22-23).
