The Central Committee of the World Council of the Churches (Wcc) met in Geneva today, mainly to appoint a new secretary general. The appointment – states the Ecumenical Centre of Geneva – will be held tomorrow afternoon, and the winning nominee’s name will be disclosed by 5 pm. The position of secretary general of Wcc (an international ecumenical movement with 347 member Churches in over one hundred countries, representing about 400 million believers) had been held since January 2004 to this date by the pastor of the Methodist Church of Kenya, Samuel Kobia, who on the occasion of the latest central committee meeting had announced he would not hold that position for another term. The task of appointing the new “leader” of Wcc was made easier by a meeting that took place in Amsterdam last June, where a specially-appointed committee submitted two nominees. One of them will be appointed tomorrow: they are pastor Park Seong-won of the Presbyterian Church of Korea and pastor Olav Fykse Tveit of the Lutheran Church of Norway. Both have a long experience in the ecumenical movement under their belts. The Central Committee meeting will end on September 2nd.

© SIR - august 26 2009