wfn.org | Gift to Bossey

["Sheila MESA" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
26 October 1999

$1.5 Million Gift to the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey

World Council of Churches (WCC) staff reacted warmly last week to news of a $1.5 million gift from the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church to endow a chair in mission at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland.

"I appreciate the vision that this gift represents," said Dr Heidi Hadsell, director of the institute and a Presbyterian from the United States. "The United Methodist gift is an investment in the ecumenical education of global Christian leadership in the next millennium."

In 1999, the Ecumenical Institute established a five-year redevelopment plan that includes major programmne expansion, a $4 million renovation of facilities and a goal of $6 million in new endowments for faculty chairs and scholarships. The Rev. John B. Lindner, Bossey development and planning director in the USA, worked closely with Hadsell in formulating the plan.

"The United Methodist gift allows us to pursue this initiative with even more optimism", Lindner said. 

The United Methodist Church has from the early days of the Ecumenical Institute benefited from and contributed to the ecumenical leadership programmes at Bossey. Hundreds of men and women -- pastors, theological educators, laity and denominational leaders -- have participated in Bossey's graduate school and seminar programmes. In recent years, retired UMC Bishop James M. Ault has chaired the US Bossey Committee. Presently, the past president of United Methodist Women, Dr Carolyn Johnson, serves as a member of the board of the Ecumenical Institute.

The gift is an endowment for a faculty chair in mission at Bossey. The Bossey faculty is intentionally recruited as an international, multidisciplinary and ecumenical mix of Protestant, Orthodox and Roman Catholic professors. Dr Randolph Nugent, general secretary of the Board of Global Ministries of the UMC, announced the gift saying "Bossey has for a half-century mentored ecumenical leadership. This gift is an expression of our commitment to continue to serve the global leadership needs of churches through the programmes at Bossey".

In any given graduate school session at Bossey there are students from 30 to 40 countries and every major tradition of the Christian faith. The number of students is expected to double in 2000.

The Ecumenical Institute -- known around the world as simply "Bossey" due to its location in the historic Château de Bossey overlooking "Lac Leman" and the French Alps -- has served for over 50 years as the world centre for ecumenical study and leadership formation.

For more information contact Heidi Hadsell, director of Bossey, tel. +41-22-960-9316; email: hhn@wcccoe.org or John B. Lindner, development and planning director of Bossey in the US, tel: +1-212-870-3260; email: RevJBL@aol.com .

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of 337 churches, in more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian traditions.  The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC.  The highest governing body is the Assembly, which meets approximately every seven years.  The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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