wfn.org | Three New LWF Council Members and Vice-President

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

U. S. Bishop Mark Hanson Represents North American Region

LWF Council Meeting, Wittenberg, Germany, 10-17 September 2002

Press Release No. 14

WITTENBERG, Germany/GENEVA, 16 September 2002 (LWI) * There are
three new church representatives on the Council of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). At its September 10-17 meeting, the
Council elected Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as one of its
members. Hanson was also elected as the LWF vice-president for
North America. Also joining the 49-member LWF annual governing
body is Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) National
Bishop, Raymond L. Schultz and Alfonso Corzo Garcia, a youth
member from Colombia.

In both positions Hanson succeeds former ELCA presiding bishop,
Rev. H. George Anderson, who retired as head of his church end
October 2001, subsequently giving up his function on the LWF
Council, where he served on the Program Committee for Theology and
Studies. Prior to his July 2001 election as ELCA presiding bishop,
Hanson, 55, was bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod. He pursued
theological training in Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Union
Theological Seminary, New York, Luther Seminary, St. Paul and
Harvard Divinity School. Ordained in 1974, Hanson was a pastor in
the University Lutheran Church of Hope and Prince of Glory
Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, as well as in the Edina Community
Lutheran Church in Edina, Minnesota.

The ELCA has around 5.1 million members in 10,851
congregationsrepresented in 65 synods. Three North American
Lutheran church bodies - the American Lutheran Church, Association
of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and Lutheran Church in America *
merged in 1988 to form the ELCA. It joined the LWF the same year.

On the LWF Council, ELCIC's Bishop Schultz, 60, succeeds Bishop
Telmor Sartison on the Program Committee for Communication
Services. Telmor retired September 2001 as national bishop of the
Canadian church. Schultz studied at Camrose Lutheran College, the
University of Saskatchewan, Lutheran Theological Seminary and
Vancouver School of Theology. He was ordained in 1966 and worked
as a pastor in different congregations in Edmonton, and as a
student chaplain in the University of British Columbia. From 1991
to 1998, he served as pastor of the Redeemer Congregation,
Vancouver and was elected bishop of the British Columbia Synod in
1998. He assumed the position of ELCIC national bishop in October
2001.

With 188,654 members, the ELCIC is Canada's largest Lutheran
church. It joined the LWF in 1986, the same year that it was
formed through the merger of two predecessor bodies.

Alfonso Corzo Gracia, 22, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Colombia, succeeds Zulma Ineyda Ojeda on the Program Committee for
Communication Services. He is studying industrial engineering at
El Bosque University in Colombia. The 3,000-member Colombian
church joined the LWF in 1966.

The LWF President is Bishop emeritus Dr. Christian Krause, from
Germany, elected at the Federation's Ninth Assembly in Hong Kong,
China in 1997. The five LWF vice-presidents, also elected at the
last Assembly include Ms. Parmata Abasu Ishaya, (Nigeria), Africa
region; Rev. Huberto Kirchheim (Brazil), Latin America and
Caribbean; Rev. Dr. Prasanna Kumari (India), Asia and Bishop Dr.
Julius Filo (Slovak Republic) for Central and Eastern Europe, as
well as Bishop Hanson for North America.

Participants in this year's Council meeting include 103
representatives from LWF member churches, and an additional 14,
among them staff, interpreters, stewards, press and invited
guests. The Council, comprising the President, Treasurer and 47
other church representatives is the Federation's annual governing
body elected by the Assembly. The Assembly, the highest-decision
making body, made up of delegates from all member churches, meets
every six years. The Tenth Assembly will take place 21-31 July
2003 in Winnipeg, Canada, hosted by the ELCIC. The LWF currently
has 133 member churches in 73 countries worldwide, representing
61.7 million out of the 65.4 million Lutherans worldwide.

Staff of the LWF Office for Communication Services at the Council
meeting can be contacted at German mobile telephone No., +49-(0)
170-8345 177.

(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 61.7
million of the 65.4 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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