wfn.org | News in brief

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

 ... Anneli Janhonen becomes general secretary for Finnish Jubilee 2000.
After six years with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Anneli Janhonen,
director of the LWF Office for Communication Services, and editor-in-chief
of Lutheran World Information, bids us farewell with this issue. Janhonen
will return to her home country, Finland, where she will become general
secretary for the Jubilee 2000 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Finland (ELCF).The LWF Council nominated the 61-year-old theologian and
editor to the position of OCS director, in Chicago in 1991. She took up the
post in Geneva in April 1992. Janhonen began her journalistic career in the
1960s with the Finnish church newspaper Kotimaa. She worked in the ELCF
information center from 1972, becoming its director in 1990. Karin
Achtelstetter, assistant editor of the German edition of Lutheran World
Information has been named acting OCS director, with effect from July 18.

 ... Gottfried Brakemeier made honorary member of LWF Council. Former
president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Gottfried Brakemeier, has
been made an honorary member of the LWF Council. The council called the
Brazilian theologian to the position at its recent June 8-17 meeting in
Geneva. Brakemeier becomes the third honorary member of the council in
company with the two former LWF presidents, Archbishop emeritus Mikko Juva
from Finland, and Bishop emeritus Johannes Hanselmann from Germany.

 ... Rainer Kiefer new head of German National Committee's Stuttgart
office. The German National Committee (GNC) of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) has named Rainer Kiefer as new chief of the GNC's
Stuttgart office. The 39-year-old pastor succeeds Edmund Ratz who will
retire July 31. Kiefer is in charge of the desk for theology at the Hanover
church office. He will also become executive secretary in the GNC
Commission for Church Cooperation and World Service according to the United
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany (VELKD) . Kiefer will take up his
new job Oct. 1.

 ... Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre under Chinese management. The Tao Fong
Shan Christian Centre (TFSCC), founded in 1920 by the Norwegian Missionary
Society in Hong Kong, is now for the first time under Chinese management.
Philip Chia succeeds the Norwegian president, Rolv Olsen. The Old Testament
professor will take up his new function Aug. 1. The facilities of the TFSCC
include a chapel, a lotus crypt, an art center and meeting place. One of
the center's aims is the promotion of interreligious dialogue.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/