25.03.2009
New Swedish Partnership with LWF Seeks to Strengthen Member Churches' Capacity
Mr Lars Hofgren from Sweden has joined the Department for Mission and Development (DMD) at the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) as coordinator of a comprehensive capacity development program with LWF member churches. The initiative is a joint partnership between the LWF and Church of Sweden (CoS) which has seconded Hofgren to DMD.The DMD program addresses long and short-term strategic capacity development in the LWF member churches. It promotes cooperation between the respective partners in the North and South, and provides opportunities for mutual learning. The activities will be designed in response to specific needs of selected member churches and would normally require a long-term follow-up process.
An economist, Hofgren, 61, has served his home church in different capacities for more than 30 years. Prior to joining DMD, he worked for four years as Secretary for Lutheran Mission Cooperation, based in Arusha, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). From 1999 to 2004 he was the secretary for Eastern and Western Africa at the CoS Uppsala office. In the 1980s and 1990s he worked as development director of the Swedish Mission Council, an association of local denominations and Christian organisations working to promote justice and reconciliation globally. He served as ELCT treasurer in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Hofgren is married with three children (two boys, one girl) and four grandchildren (boys). (234 words)
More information about DMD's work is available at: www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DMD/DMD-Welcome.html
If you want to edit this article yourself and adapt it to a given format, follow our editing information
