LWF celebrates 60 years of 'making a difference'

When visiting a small Lutheran chapel in Kokshetau, Kazakhstan, last September, Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, told members: “You are but a small congregation, but you have brothers and sisters all around the world. … In the congregation we are only a few, but within our Lutheran family we are over 66 million in 78 countries.”

The LWF was founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, as a response to the needs of European refugees following World War II. Today, as the LWF celebrates its 60th anniversary, it has evolved into a global communion of 140 member churches. While the organization still provides humanitarian assistance to refugees, it also responds to such issues as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, water rights, natural disasters and land mines.

It also addresses human rights issues. “The LWF has a real recognition that service has to be combined with a commitment to justice and peace … service that calls us to confront unjust economic systems, unjust political systems and the presence of violence,” said Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop and LWF president.