wfn.org | "Radio Voice of the Gospel" Former Director Dies

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org]

Reply-to: FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org

Manfred Lundgren honoured by LWF as pioneer in Christian communication  
 
GENEVA, 15 December 1999 (lwi) - With the death of Rev. Manfred Lundgren, the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has lost a "pioneer in the field of Christian
communication". LWF General Secretary Ishmael Noko declared that "The
ecumenical movement is indebted to him and other pioneers of similar plumage."

 
Rev. Lundgren passed away on 6 December 1999 at age 85. He was director of
"Radio Voice of the Gospel" (RVOG), stationed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from
1974 to 1977, having served as its acting director since 1971. After the radio
station was taken over by the Provisional Military Governing Council of
Ethiopia, early in the morning on 12 March 1977, Lundgren served in Geneva as
Director of RVOG/Alternate Media of the Lutheran World Federation, until his
retirement in 1979. 
 
LWF General Secretary Noko emphasised Lundgren's importance for the LWF radio
station: "He contributed to international Christian understanding and
solidarity through Radio Voice of the Gospel." 
 
Marc Chambron, former director of the LWF's Communications Department, said
that Manfred Lundgren's colleagues at the radio station called him "an
Ethiopian of Swedish descent". Chambron continued: "As a long-time missionary,
and an expert on Ethiopia, as a missiologist concerned with development
issues, as the last station director of RVOG, Lundgren has played a very
significant role at the service of the Gospel." 
 
Manfred Lundgren was born on 26 September 1914 in Lovanger, Sweden. He
received his theological education at the Swedish Evangelical Mission
Theological Institute, Johannelund in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1933 to 1938. In
1935 and 1936 Lundgren interrupted his studies to take part in ambulance
service with the Swedish Red Cross in Ethiopia during the Italian invasion. 
 
Following his ordination in 1938, Rev. Lundgren served as a pastor for youth
in Helsingborg, Sweden, until he was sent as a missionary to Ethiopia in 1945.
Ethiopia became the focus of his life's work, until he was compelled to leave
the country in 1977 when the "Radio Voice of the Gospel" station was
nationalised. 
 
Lundgren served from 1964 to 1966 as Africa Secretary in the Department for
World Mission of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva. In 1966 he returned
to Ethiopia, where he directed the literature and literacy programme of the
Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Jesus (EECMY) until 1968. From 1968 to
1970 he was Director of Foreign Mission for the Swedish Evangelical Mission in
Stockholm. 
 
As Director of the "Radio Voice of the Gospel" station, which was started as a
Lutheran World Federation project in 1963, Lundgren directed a broadcasting
team of 200. The 200 kw station could potentially reach a billion listeners
throughout Africa, in the Near East and parts of Asia, on short-wave and
medium-wave frequencies and in up to 17 languages. From 1963 till the time of
nationalisation it was broadcasting 130.000 hours. 
 
In 1983 the Lutheran World Federation published a full history of the radio
station by Manfred Lundgren: "Proclaiming Christ to His World: The Experience
of Radio Voice of the Gospel, 1957-1977". 
 
The burial of Rev. Manfred Lundgren will take place on 17 December 1999. 
 
 
(The LWF is a global communion of 128 member churches in 70 countries
representing 58 million of the world's 61.5 million Lutherans. Its highest
decision making body is the Assembly, held every six or seven years. Between
Assemblies, the LWF is governed by a 49-member Council which meets annually,
and its Executive Committee.) 
 
[Lutheran World Information is the information service of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does not
represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
dateline of an article contains the notation (lwi), the material may be freely
reproduced with acknowledgment.] 
 
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