The vibrant GKPI Medan Kota congregation in Indonesia welcomed LWF General Secretary Burghardt on the last Sunday of the church year. Addressing a gathering of over 500 church members, her sermon highlighted the church's essential role in a rapidly changing world.
Congregants gather in prayer at the GKPI Medan Kota congregation on 26 November. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
LWF general secretary preaches on last Sunday of the church year
(LWI) - Visiting member churches in Indonesia on 21-28 November, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) general secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt joined worship at the GKPI Medan Kota congregation on 26 November.
Connections between local and global lie at the heart of being churches in communion, and as the 500 or so congregants gathered for Sunday service in Medan, Burghardt brought greetings from the 150 member churches that make up the LWF communion worldwide, altogether encompassing some 80 million individual members.
One of 14 Lutheran churches in Indonesia, the Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia (GKPI) gathers some 268,000 members countrywide in Indonesia.
The Medan Kota congregation is the church’s biggest congregation, including some 800 households in the local area.
Congregants sing a hymn, including both those seated inside the church building and those in an overflow space provided just outside. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
On 26 November – in one of four services offered to the congregants this last Sunday of the church year – Burghardt preached on Revelation 21: 1-4, noting that as the church year is coming to an end, “the Scripture passages call us to reflect on time and eternity, on the things passed and things that are yet to come.”
LWF general secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt preaches in Medan on the last Sunday of the church year. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
“We are called as Christ´s church, to spread a foretaste of this new heaven and new earth, to live more fully into being the new creation that Jesus Christ has called us to be, and to do so in our time and in today’s world,” Burghardt reflected.
“This was and is our commitment in the worldwide Lutheran communion of churches, the Lutheran World Federation. We are called to share the joy of the new heaven and the new earth already here and now, to serve our neighbor through worship, proclamation, advocacy and diakonia,” she said.
At the conclusion of the service, LWF general secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt gives the blessing to the congregation, shared in her mother tongue Estonian. Pictured to her right is local pastor Rev. Dr. Jhon Simorangkir. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert
Local pastor Rev. Dr. Jhon Simorangkir, who led the service together with Burghardt, describes his congregation as one that wholeheartedly serves the church, and added that the visit of the LWF general secretary made for a memorable day.
“This helps to strengthen our relationship with the LWF, and also empowers us as we continue our ministry,” he said.
