wfn.org | Canadian Pastor Arthur Leichnitz is LWF Tenth Assembly Coordinator

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

Preparations Already Underway 

GENEVA, 20 September 2001 (LWI) - As preparations for the Tenth Assembly of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) proceed, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr. Ishmael
Noko has announced the appointment of Rev. Arthur Leichnitz as Assembly
Coordinator. The assembly will be held in Winnipeg, Canada, 21-31 July 2003
under the theme "For the Healing of the World."

Leichnitz, currently LWF Regional Expression Officer for North America is
working as Assembly Coordinator on a part-time basis September-December 2001.
He will assume the position full-time on 1 January 2002 for a two-year period.
The Geneva Assembly Office is staffed by two persons, the coordinator and an
administrative assistant.

A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Leichnitz, 52, is a pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), host church of the upcoming
assembly. He is the first person to serve as Regional Expression Officer for
the LWF North American office, located at the churchwide office of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Chicago. Established in 1998
as a program of regional expression of communion within the LWF, the office is
overseen by a regional committee that includes representatives of the ELCIC,
ELCA and LWF Department for Mission and Development.

Ordained in 1982, Leichnitz has served in parish ministry in Winnipeg, as
Lutheran campus pastor at the University of Manitoba and synod facilitator for
youth ministries. Leichnitz has served the ELCIC in various capacities
including as a member of the National Church Council, chairing the national
youth ministry committee and leadership in planning several national youth
gatherings. As regional officer Leichnitz has participated in various LWF
gatherings including the annual Council meetings, pre-Council church
visitations, consultations in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe, and has
worked regularly at the federation's Geneva secretariat.

Leichnitz graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Carleton University
in 1970 and worked as a systems engineer with IBM Canada. He studied theology
at St. Paul University, Ottawa and at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, graduating with a Master of Divinity Degree in 1980.
He received a Master of Sacred Theology Degree from the University of Winnipeg
in 1988 with specialization in marriage and family pastoral counseling.

The Assembly Coordinator discharges his responsibilities under the supervision
of the General Secretary. An Assembly Planning Committee, appointed by the LWF
Council oversees Assembly preparations.

Ms Yvonne Dahlin from the Church of Sweden served as Assembly Coordinator for
the LWF Ninth Assembly held in Hong Kong, China 8-16 July 1997 under the theme
"In Christ-Called to Witness."

The Tenth Assembly will be the second gathering of the federation's highest
decision-making body in North America since the LWF's founding in 1947. In
1957, the various Lutheran churches represented in the then National Lutheran
Council in the USA hosted the LWF Third Assembly in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Its
theme was "Christ Frees and Unites." 

Lutheran World Information (LWI) will continue to provide news and information
on the LWF Tenth Assembly preparations. 

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. 
Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133 member churches in 73 
countries representing over 60.5 million of the 64.3 million Lutherans 
worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common 
interest such as ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human 
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. 
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.) 

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) 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 acknowledgement.] 

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