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11

LWF elects Estonian pastor as new general secretary

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The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council has elected Estonian theologian Rev Anne Burghardt as the next General Secretary of the global communion of Lutheran churches.

The first woman and the first Central-Eastern European to hold this leadership position, Rev Burghardt is currently serving as Head of Development for the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church’s (EELC) Institute of Theology and advisor to the church for international and ecumenical relations.

She will take over as LWF’s new General Secretary at the beginning of November, succeeding Rev Dr Martin Junge, who has led the communion of 148 member churches for the past 11 years. The LCA is an associate member of the LWF.

Following the announcement last month, Rev Burghardt said she was ‘humbled by this great honour’.

‘In accepting this very special responsibility in the communion, I pray for the guidance of God’s Spirit’, she said. ‘I rejoice in having the possibility to work with the council, with member churches, and with different partners, as the LWF continues to participate in God’s holistic mission. May God bless our communion so that it may be a blessing to the wider church and to the world.’

LWF President Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa congratulated Rev Burghardt on her election. ‘She will be taking up a vital role in the leadership of our global communion of churches, helping to shape its ongoing journey and witness to the gospel, working for peace, justice, and reconciliation’, he said. ‘Rev Burghardt brings her valuable experience and gifts into the position, and I look forward to working with her.’

At the EELC Institute of Theology, Rev Burghardt has worked on strengthening Lutheran theological education as an integral part of the sustainability of the church.

She also has a depth of experience in ecumenical relations, having served as Study Secretary for Ecumenical Relations at the LWF’s Geneva Communion Office from 2013 to 2018 and as a current governing board member of the Conference of European Churches.

Rev Burghardt was content coordinator for the LWF Twelfth Assembly, held in Windhoek, Namibia in 2017, and for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

She studied theology at the University of Tartu in Estonia, at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany, and at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She has a Master of Theology and is currently finishing PhD studies in the field of Orthodox liturgics. She is married to Rev Arnd Matthias Burghardt, also an ordained pastor of the EELC, and they have two children.

Rev Burghardt and Zimbabwean pastor Rev Dr Kenneth Mtata were shortlisted for the general secretary’s position earlier last month by a search committee appointed by the LWF Council.

12

Gifts to fellow pastors reflect God’s love

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When Pastor Matt Anker, the LCA/NZ’s Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission, called on Lutheran pastors in Australia and New Zealand to support their brother pastors in the Philippines, he says the response was ‘breathtaking’.

Pastor Matt had heard from President Antonio Reyes of the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP) about the effect of COVID-19 church shutdowns, inadequate health facilities, isolation and the lack of a government safety net on LCP pastors. Rev Reyes also shared that for months his pastors had not received stipends as their congregations were not meeting in person, and many members had lost their incomes.

‘He asked if we would consider buying a month’s supply of rice for each of their pastors to help them get by – the cost of which was A$7000’, Pastor Matt says. ‘Although this is not the usual work of LCA International Mission, it was an appeal I couldn’t ignore. Calling to mind the Apostle Paul’s encouragement in Galatians 6:10, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”, I wrote to our pastors and asked them to consider supporting their brother pastors in the Philippines by donating $60 to help one family.

‘Literally within minutes of hitting the send button on the emails, our pastors started to donate and they didn’t stop! Within a couple of days, we were beyond the goal of $7000 and still the donations continued. Some pastors shared this need with their congregations and one congregation sent on a $9000 bequest they had just received so that the ministry of word and sacrament in the Philippines could continue unhindered.

‘Thanks to the generosity of our pastors and those they shared this need with, we have sent more than $35,000 to the Philippines, enabling their pastors to continue their ministry without having to seek alternative work to feed their families.’

LCP’s Pastor Daniel Pondevida sums up the response of our friends in the Philippines when he says: ‘No words of heartfelt thanks can express my joy for your goodness and kindness towards us.’

Pastor Matt says that, while the scale of generosity he has witnessed in this example is ‘breathtaking’, he has been more surprised by the words of thanks he has received from LCA/NZ pastors who ‘were grateful for the opportunity to support their extended family in this way’.

‘Their words reminded me that their generosity is not of their own doing, but instead is born of gratitude for the abundant generosity of our Heavenly Father who did not spare his own Son, but willingly gave him up for us all that we might have forgiveness of sins and life in his name’, Pastor Matt says.

‘Their gifts reflect the love they have received from the Lord, a love which is so generous it overflowed their own lives and reached all the way to the Philippines.

‘Thanks be to God for his generosity in Christ that enables us to be bearers of his generous love to others.’

13

LCA farewells pastoral nursing pioneer

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Mrs Lynette Wiebusch, the founding president of the Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia (LNAA), has died, aged 79.

The president of LNAA for 10 years after it was founded in 1991, Lynette was responsible for introducing the concept of what is now known as pastoral care nursing to the LCA. She was the Church’s first pastoral care nurse from 1996, serving at both Mount Barker and Dernancourt in South Australia.

She was a founding board member of the ecumenical Australian Faith Community Nurses Association and chaired the board for several years. She was also a founding board member for the global network, Lutheran Parish Nurses International. In 2001 she received the National Health and Medical Research Council’s International Year of Volunteers SA Award for health education and promotion.

Lynette was one of the first three graduates of Luther Seminary’s Graduate Diploma in Theology (Faith Community Nursing) and co-wrote LNAA’s Introduction to Pastoral Care Nursing course. The course was adopted by the Parish Nursing Council of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the United States as its Distance Education program.

The editor of the LNAA newsletter IN TOUCH from 1992 to 2018, Lynette was named an honorary LNAA Life Member in the LNAA’s awards on International Nurses Day in May this year. The wife of Pastor Robert (Bob) Wiebusch, Lynette died suddenly on 30 November 2020 of a stroke. Her funeral was held on 11 December 2020 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Hope Valley, South Australia.

18

When words fail, faith remains

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I spent my life working with words. As a teacher, presenter and facilitator, language was my calling and my craft – the tool I used to teach, encourage and connect with others. Now, slowly and unexpectedly, those words are slipping away.

19

Welcome to the neighbourhood!

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When an ecumenical pastors group from Victor Harbor on SA’s Fleurieu Peninsula last year decided to step out in faith and create a welcome pack, a website and a new resident visiting program, they could not have anticipated the many different blessings that would come from the LCANZ Local Mission Fund-backed project.

20

Weaving compassion into beautiful gifts

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The community of the Albury and Wodonga ‘twin’ cities, which straddle Australia’s Murray River and the New South Wales-Victoria border, has a history of being big-hearted. So, with humanitarian service seemingly woven into residents’ DNA, it’s no surprise that the region boasts a team of people with nimble fingers, willing hands and hearts for helping others.