The Thirteenth Assembly of The Lutheran World Federation convened in Kraków, Poland expresses its deepest gratitude to the following distinguished persons, organizations and institutions for their indispensable contributions to the success of the Assembly and making it a fruitful, meaningful and important event in the life of the LWF and all the participants. To this end, the Assembly adopts the following expressions of gratitude.
To the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland (ECACP), for generously inviting the LWF Thirteenth Assembly to Poland and the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to all participants. The Assembly acknowledges and greatly appreciates the tireless efforts and energy the ECACP and its Presiding Bishop Jerzy Samiec – have invested during the preparation and throughout the Assembly.
To the Municipality of Kraków and its Mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, and Deputy Mayor, Anna Korfel-Jasińska, the Stara Zajezdnia Kraków de Silva, as well as the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland, for their generous welcome reception dinner for all the assembly participants. Thanks also goes to the Polish National Song and Dance Ensemble, “Śląsk”, for their cultural concert. Appreciation is also extended to Kraków Travel for the cultural and other tourism information they have provided. We also thank the municipality and the Congress Bureau of Kraków for the free transportation pass, the free taxi service, hotel for VIPs and their provision of two days’ worth of the costs for the use of ICE Congress Centre.
To the government of the Republic of Poland for their unwavering support and cooperation from the day it was announced that the LWF Thirteenth Assembly would be held in Kraków until the end of the Assembly. To its Department of Foreign Affairs and the various Polish Embassies for their invaluable support and assistance to the delegates acquiring visas to enter Poland.
To the Assembly Planning Committee and its Chair, Presiding Bishop Dr Tamás Fabiny of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary, and members Colleen Elizabeth Cunningham, Leon Chau, Rev. Gustavo Gómez, Rev. Katherine Gohm, Kadre Arikainen, Amanda Carlshamre and Rev. Klaus Rieth, and their advisors for their overall guidance, counsel and time spent for various preparatory meetings in the lead up to the Assembly.
To the International Worship Planning Committee and its chair, Kinga Marjatta Pap, Assembly Worship Coordinator, Tom Witt, and the Local Worship Committee, and its chair, Piotr Sztwiertnia, the music directors, liturgical leaders and their assistants, drama/performance team, Assembly Choir, local choir from the different parishes and others for carrying out spirit-filled worship services.
To the Local Assembly Planning Committee, Anna Wrzesińska, chair, and members Bishop Jerzy Samiec, Dr Adrian Korczago, Dr Marian Niemiec, Rev. Tymoteusz Bujok, Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska, Zofia Niemczyk and Jolanta Palowska, for their capable leadership, devotion and time they have given in guiding all the preparatory processes and actions in the lead toward and during the assembly. Moreover, the assembly offers special words of appreciation to the volunteers for their dedications to their multi-task assignments (welcoming participants at the airport, help with transportation, showing directions, technical assistance, etc.), eagerness to help or simply their smiles to Assembly participants making everyone feel welcomed and at home every day. Warm thanks are extended to the local congregations who hosted participants in the Youth Pre-Assembly and Women’s Pre-Assembly and the delegations of Pre-Assembly visits. Appreciation is extended to ECACP’s Augustana Printing Press for the printed materials, Jordan Bus for local transportation throughout the Assembly and Liberandum, provider of the medical services.
To the member churches, national committees and our generous host ECACP in particular for contributing to the Assembly budget and others who have made in kind contribution to the planning and running of the Assembly.
To the 26 local ECACP parishes and their pastors that hosted the church Sunday services and visits to local communities as well as the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic and two Czech Churches, the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession and the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.
The Assembly expresses its profound appreciation for the many greetings extended to it by representatives of its ecumenical partners. We acknowledge the greetings provided by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople conveyed through His Eminence Metropolitan Prof. Dr Kyrillos of Krini, Patriarchal Exarch of Malta, the Roman Catholic Church, through His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, the World Council of Churches through The Rev. Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Moderator, the Roman Catholic Church, through His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Mennonite World Conference, through the Rev. César Garcia, General Secretary, World Methodist Council, through Bishop Ivan Abrahams, General Secretary, the Anglican Communion, through Bishop Anthony Poggo, Secretary General, World Communion of Reformed Churches through the Rev. Dr Hanns Lessing, Acting General Secretary, Pentecostal World Fellowship, through Dr William Wilson, its Chair, Caritas Internationalis, through Mr Alistair Dutton, Secretary General, Global Christian Forum, through the Rev. Dr Casely Essamuah, Secretary, ACT Alliance through Mr Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, its General Secretary, Conference of European Churches, through Dr Jørgen Skov Sorensen, its General Secretary, and the Communion of Protestant Churches in Europe, through Dr Mario Fischer, General Secretary.
This Assembly recognizes and rejoices in the presence of two former Presidents of the LWF, Bishop Emeritus Mark S. Hanson and Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan, and the two former General Secretaries, Rev Dr Ishmael Noko and Rev Dr Martin Junge among us.
To the many visitors who joined from places near and far at their own personal expenses in order to share in the life of the Assembly.
To the LWF Thirteenth Assembly Keynote speaker, Mons. Prof. Dr Tomáš Halik, for his powerful and profound address that challenged the Assembly to live up to its theme of “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope”. The same goes to respondents who interacted with Prof. Halik, Ms Kathryn Lohre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Presiding Bishop Dr. Fredrick Onaeli Shoo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, bringing the discussion to the realities and challenges of the LWF member churches.
To the preachers at the Opening and Closing Worship services, Rev Danielle Dokman, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Suriname, and Rev. Dr. Anne Burghardt, LWF General Secretary, respectively, Bible study presenters – Rev. Dr Ho-Yin Kenneth Tsang, Prof. Kalina Wojciechowska, Rev. Dr Barbara Rossing, and Rev. Gerson Acker, for their thoughtful reflections on the theological underpinnings of the assembly themes and its sub-themes.
To the Assembly Thematic keynote speakers – Rev. Dr. Benny Sinaga, Rev. Dr. Bruk A. Asele and Archbishop emerita Dr Antje Jackelén – for their insightful deliberation on the sub-themes of One Body, One Spirit, and One Hope respectively. Similar appreciation extends to respondents and moderators of the respective thematic plenaries One Body: Bishop Naledzani Josephine Sikhwari, Prof. Dr Bernd Oberdorfer, Moderator: Rev. Dr Johannes Zeiler; One Spirit: Bishop Izani Bruch, Prof. Dr Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Moderator: Colleen Cunningham; One Hope: Respondents: Bishop Pavlo Shvarts; Katarina Kuhnert, Moderator: Rev. Sally Azar, who enriched the discussions through their contextual experiences.
We extend to Special Guest, Mr. Marian Turski, our sincere thanks for his inspiring testimony and words of wisdom which he shared with us on Saturday 16 September.
To village group chairs, co-chairs and rapporteurs for displaying extraordinary facilitation skills that made the village groups indeed open, safe and interactive spaces where the Assembly themes and its sub-themes were further reflected upon and moulded into concrete proposals for action by the LWF and its member churches.
To all those who participated in the Jarmark exhibitions and the workshop presenters and facilitators for enriching the Assembly through informal and sometimes entertaining exchange of ideas, traditional objects, clothes and foods that truly reflects the global nature of the LWF communion.
The Thirteenth Assembly of the LWF records special gratitude to all those who contributed to the moving visit to the Memorial and Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as its director, staff and guides.
The Assembly expresses its gratitude for the work of the LWF Vice Presidents, other Officers, the entire Council and its various committees over the past six years. The Assembly took many actions that required the attention and action of the Council. The Council has faithfully carried out many of those resolutions and statements, the COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding. The members of the Council and its Committees have faithfully executed their tasks, including providing helpful resources and assistance to the member churches.
This Assembly conveys acknowledgments to its various Committees and their Chairs who devoted their time and energy to make this Assembly productive and help it to diligently discharge its responsibilities as per the LWF constitution, these are – the Business Committee and its Chair, Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa, Policy and Reference Committee and its Chair, LoeRose Mbise, Editorial Committee and its Chair, Bishop Dr Kaisamari Hintikka, : Nominations Committee and its chair, Bishop Larry Kochendorfer, Credentials and Elections Committee and its Chair, Rev. Dr Robinson Butarbutar, and Minutes Committee and its Chair, Ms Wiebke Zimmermann. We also extend our thanks to the following committees the Women’s Pre-Assembly Global Planning Committee, the Local Women’s Pre-assembly Committee, the Youth Pre-Assembly Global Planning Committee, the Local Youth Pre-assembly Committee, the Men’s Pre-Assembly Global Planning Committee, the Local Men’s Pre-assembly Committee, the Auschwitz Task Force, the Code of Conduct Response Team, and the Pastoral Care and Support Team.
To Rev. Dr. Anne Burghardt, General Secretary of the LWF, for her wisdom and overall leadership and managerial capabilities she exhibited both in public and behind the scenes to create an enabling and friendly environment for smooth running of the Assembly. We also thank the Assembly Coordinator, Ms. Maryssa Camaddo, for her meticulous planning, implementation and general oversight of the entire progression of the Assembly. To Magali Bauer and Jeanne Pierson, Assembly Assistants for their invaluable and tireless work of registering and arranging travel of participants, and to Rev. Klaus Reith as ICE venue coordinator. The same appreciation is extended to the Local Assembly Coordinator, Ms. Malgorzata Zachraj and her colleagues, Adam Marek, Mateusz Wozniak, Konrad Indeka and Magdalena Marek, for their persistent commitment including going extra miles when circumstances required, as it happened many times. We are grateful to the LWF European Regional Secretary Rev. Dr. Ireneusz Lukas for all the facilitation and linkages with the region and the host church.
To the many teams and leaders for Communications, Space Management, Information, Safety and Security, Village groups, Jarmark, Registration, Visitors’ program, Finance, IT and equipment, Documentation, Thematic plenaries, Regional meetings, Ushers, Women, Youth and Men Pre-Assemblies, as well as the entire LWF staff, co-opted staff and many others from the member churches who have unselfishly given their time and efforts to the Assembly. A special word of thanks goes to the designer of the Assembly logo, Ms. Kristen Opalinski, and WCC Colleagues Marc Henri Heiniger, Charlotte Belot and Daniel Sanchez for the technical and plenary support during the Assembly. Appreciation is extended to the core volunteers and stewards for their great service. Particular gratitude is expressed to the language service, the interpreters, the translators, the editor and the technical service for their continuous efforts to enable communication among the Assembly participants. Similar appreciation is also extended to the medical professionals who made themselves available for any help throughout the Assembly period and Delta Travels for the air travel arrangements of the participants.
To all the Polish government’s branches, ministries and agencies –– who contributed their part to make this assembly peaceful, joyful, colourful and successful.
To the representatives of the press, radio, and television who have covered and reported on the activities of this Assembly, they and individuals who have utilized social media have assisted in communicating to the world the role of the Lutheran World Federation both in the affairs of churches and nations.
To the management and staff of the ICE Congress Centre, the main Assembly venue for their state-of-the-art facilities and professional services. Appreciation is extended to Masters Catering for the dining service. The same goes to the Director and administration of AGH hostels Strumyk, Olimp and Babilon, which provided comfortable accommodations and friendly environment for the participants and AGH Club Studio for breakfast and other meals at AGH. We thank also the Kraków Parish Church under the leadership of Pastor Lukasz Ostruszka for the invaluable support to the Assembly office and side activities organized during the Assembly.
Last but not least, the Thirteenth Assembly of the LWF expresses its profound gratitude, love and indebtedness to Archbishop Dr Panti Filibus Musa, President of the Lutheran World Federation, for his pastoral and prophetic leadership of the communion for the past six years. Archbishop Musa’s leadership and witness during the past six years has affirmed our true global communion through his numerous visits of accompaniment to member churches in all the LWF regions and his care and concern for the member churches and the Communion Office during the COVID-19 pandemic. His competence, experience and insight have guided the LWF as it has discussed and explored the practical implications of this global communion within our diversity.
This Assembly recognizes that there are many other persons and organizations who have been involved in the preparation, planning and functioning of this Assembly. Although unnamed, their contributions are not unnoticed, and our hearty thanks are extended to them.
Beyond this expression, we thank God for the many blessings bestowed upon the Thirteenth Assembly of the LWF convened in Kraków, Poland from 13-19 September 2023.