The Lutheran World Federation is looking for a Regional Secretary for Europe

Place of assignment: Incumbent's country of residence

The employment conditions will be defined with the final selected candidate

Starting date: 1 February 2027

Contract period: initial contract of 5 years, renewable once

Work time: 100 %

Average travel days per year: extensive (more than 20 days per year)

Application deadline: Sept. 21, 2026

Organizational Context

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is a communion of 153 churches in 99 countries that collaborate on matters of theology, Christian unity, holistic mission, humanitarian and development aid. The Communion Office (CO) is the headquarters of the LWF.

The Office of the General Secretary (OGS) in the CO is responsible for managing and nurturing relationships and ensuring the smooth running of the Communion Office as it fulfils the Strategy of the LWF.

Regional Secretaries (RS) are the OGS’s primary link to member churches at the regional level, focusing specifically on the strategic priority of “Thriving Churches.” The RS for Europe is responsible for the three European Regions: Central Eastern Europe, Central Western Europe, and the Nordic Countries.

S-he works remotely from the country of residence.

Purpose

Under the leadership of the General Secretary, the Regional Secretary for Europe:

• Accompanies member churches in their ministry, offering counsel, support and cooperation.
• Supports the churches to express their relationships of communion in their shared life and witness.
• Acts as a facilitator in the implementation of LWF’s programmatic work, ensuring coherence, consistency, relevance and responsiveness, both regionally and globally.

Required Qualifications

• Degree in Theology.
• Ordained pastor in a member church.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• A member church endorsement is required for this position.

Additional Study and Experience

• Successful experience of at least 5 years in positions involving mission, theological reflection, as well as planning.
• Demonstrated excellent capacity in mediation, coaching, and group facilitation.
• Demonstrated diplomatic, relational and political skills.
• Proven process management skills.
• Solid experience within an LWF member church and in regional settings.
• Demonstrated excellent capacity to develop interpersonal working relationships at both strategic and operational levels.
• Proven ability to lead and interact with multi-cultural and multi-professional teams with indirect supervision role.
• Knowledge of German and French is an asset.

LWF Core Skills

• Analytical thinking - Level advanced
• Initiative – Level advanced
• Leadership - Level advanced
• Achieving results - Level resource
• Accountability - Level resource
• Working effectively with others - Level resource

Required Skills

• Organisational development – Level resource
• Communication – Level resource
• Networking – Level resource
• Diplomacy – Level resource
• Facilitation / Negotiation / Mediation – Level resource
• Advocacy / Influence – Level resource
• Project management – Level resource

Position Environment and Dimensions

• Represents the LWF Communion Office regionally and acts as the primary entry point for accompaniment, advice and support to and from mermber churches.
• S-he deepens the understanding of the LWF as a Communion of churches in the European regions, while bringing inputs from the regional level to the global.
• Provides guidance and contextualizes LWF policies and practices, ensuring consistency and quality at regional level.
• Contributes at regional level to LWF sustainable development and financing.
• Major influence role in shaping regional and global LWF impact and outcomes.
• Internally, interacts with the General Secretary and the staff of the Office of the General Secretary, all LWF departments, program staff, event organizers.
• Externally, interacts primarily with member churches as well as other churches, ecumenical bodies, donors and related agencies, and any other relevant LWF stakeholders.

Main duties

Member church accompaniment

• Plans and leads regional and sub-regional leadership meetings.
• Maintains regular, ongoing contact with member churches, ensuring strong relationships and flow of information.
• Provides pastoral accompaniment through regular visits to the member churches of the region.
• Identifies and promotes the development of church leadership regionally and globally, both clergy and lay.
• Facilitates relationships between MCs, mitigates tensions and manages conflicts as needed.

Programmatic coordination

• Monitors and develops LWF orientations, strategy and objectives for the European regions.
• Identifies and coordinates expertise and resources in the Communion for program work and capacity building in the European regions.
• Participates in and contributes to the periodic program reviews of the departments.
• Coordinates the process of the mutual responsibility framework in the European regions.

Cooperation across the Communion Office

• Supports the design, planning, implementation of programs relating to the three European regions.
• Cooperates with other LWF Regional Secretaries to ensure cohesion and consistency between the regions.
• Advises and supports communication for the purpose of communion building.
• Convenes regional meetings in the Communion Office to exchange information and address issues in the region of responsibility.

Management

• Line manages a shared assistant position.

Special duties: Any other duties may be assigned by the General Secretary.

Major challenges: Accompanying churches that work and witness across different contexts. Strengthening communion relationships across the three diverse regions during times of change. Proactively connecting with colleagues in the Geneva Communion Office or delocalized.

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