Slideshow image

LWF Leaders Visit Ukraine - You are Not Alone

In Kyiv and Kharkiv, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) President Stubkjaer and General Secretary Anne Burghardt, express solidarity with the people and churches of Ukraine. They also met with  with Andriy Yermak, Head of the Ukrainian President’s office, and the mayor of Kharkiv, Igor Terekhov to discuss ongoing humanitarian work and advocate for exemptions for clergy from military conscription. You can read more about their solidarity visit here.

On 12 May, the LWF delegation joined a Sunday service with about 100 participants in St. Catherine's Lutheran Church in the city center of Kyiv. LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt preached from John 16:5-15, on Christ’s promise to send the Holy Spirit, highlighting the difference between the spirit of Christ and that of a human leader who may be charismatic, yet leads people to embrace dangerous ideologies. “We sense the lack of the presence of the Holy Spirit in communities and institutions where hatred is planted into hearts, where authorities govern through fear, oppression, exclusion and injustice,” she said.

“My heart goes out to you when I think about all the sufferings you have gone through in the past years. So many lives that have been lost, so many plans that have been ruined, so many families whose homes have been destroyed overnight,” she added, assuring the congregation of “the prayers of thousands of your sisters and brothers in the Lutheran communion of churches from around the world who pray daily for the end of the war and for just peace for Ukrainian people.”

To read more about the visit, please click here and here. The Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) continues to collect funds for a humanitarian response in Ukraine. If you would like to give, please click here.