Communion Office

The LWF Communion Office comprises staff who are based in Geneva and worldwide.

The office carries out LWF’s work as mandated by the Assembly and the Council. It serves the member churches and works together with them as well as related agencies, theological institutions, ecumenical and others partners. It is led by the General Secretary who is supported by the leadership team. Three departments and the Office of the General Secretary implement the work.

Communion Office Organogram

LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt. Photo: LWF/S. Gallay

General Secretary

Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt is the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.

LWF Days of Meetings, Ecumenical Center, Geneva (Switzerland), 15-17 October 2019. Photo: LWF/S. Gallay

Office of the General Secretary

The Office of the General Secretary has primary responsibility for nurturing and promoting communion relations and promoting Christian unity.

Rev. Dr Mari-Anna Auvinen in a response panel during the global consultation on Lutheran identities held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in October 2019. Photo: LWF/Albin Hillert

Department for Theology, Mission and Justice

The Department for Theology, Mission, and Justice is responsible for programs that support the presence and witness of the LWF member churches.

World Service Regional Team Meeting in Lalibela, Ethiopia, October 2019. Photo: LWF World Service

Department for World Service

Through LWF World Service we respond to humanitarian emergencies and support people in need. The Department for World Service is responsible for LWF’s humanitarian and development work which is implemented in country and emergency programs in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Group works during the 2017 Days of Meeting. Photo: LWF/S. Gallay

Department for Planning and Coordination

Coordinating the work of the Communion Office

Communion Office Leadership Team, left to right: Ms Maria Immonen, Rev. Árni Svanur Daníelsson, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, Mr Szabolcs Lörincz, Rev. Dr Sivin Kit. Photos: LWF/S. Gallay, LWF/A. Daníelsson

Leadership team

The Communion Office Leadership Team supports the General Secretary in leading and managing the LWF Communion Office

Visit us!

The location of our Communion Office at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland, ensures close cooperation with the World Council of Churches and other Christian world communions, as well as international secular organizations.

Want to know more about the LWF and other organizations working in the Ecumenical Center? Consider a visit to the Communion Office.