wfn.org | New Director Appointed to LWF Office for Personnel

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

Geneva, 25 July 2002 (LWI) - Swiss Reformed pastor, Rev. Rudolf
Renfer, 54, has been appointed director of the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) Office for Personnel. He is expected to take up
his new post here at the secretariat next November. Appointed by
the LWF Executive Committee, he succeeds Gertrude Livernois, who
returned to the United States of America last October after
holding the post since July 1995.

The new Director for Personnel has been Secretary for the French-
speaking section of Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS/EPER) since 1990.
He was in charge of Interchurch Aid in Europe, development
programs in countries of the South, scholarships, work with
refugees, and projects in favor of marginalized persons in
Switzerland, as well as communications and administration.

Renfer studied theology in Basel, Switzerland, Paris, France and
Edinburgh, Scotland. He was ordained into the Evangelical Reformed
Church of Basel in December 1972. From 1973 until 1979, he served
as pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, and subsequently of the German-speaking Swiss Reformed
Parish in Geneva. From 1985 until 1990 he directed the "Witness
and Solidarity" department of the Protestant Church of Geneva.

He and his wife have two children. (205 words)

(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 acknowledgment.]

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