wfn.org | CWS Welcomes New Exec Of All Africa Conference of Churches

["Church World Service News" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE WELCOMES SOUTH AFRICAN METHODIST BISHOP'S
ELECTION AS GENERAL SECRETARY OF ALL AFRICA CONFERENCE OF CHURCHES

May 20, 2003, NEW YORK CITY - The election of Mvume Dandala as General
Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) is great news for
Africa and its churches, said the head of the humanitarian agency Church
World Service, which is seeking to bring increased attention and resources
to the struggles faced by the majority of Africans.

Developed in partnership with the AACC, the national ecumenical councils and
regional fellowships of churches across Africa, the Church World Service
Africa Initiative, set for formal launch in January 2004, builds on the
agency's decades of emergency response, community development and refugee
assistance work in Africa. The Initiative will target new resources for
maximum impact on several significant issues, including conflict resolution.

Dandala's election earlier this month to the AACC's top staff position
brings one of Africa's and the world's most respected church leaders to a
key post in a critical period "when many of the nations of Africa cry out
for the voice of the church in favor of peace and reconciliation," said the
Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service Executive Director.

"His is a journey of integrity and courage," McCullough said, calling
Dandala a dear friend.	"The Apostle Paul wrote about powers and
principalities.  Mvume's ministry has long been characterized as one that
has challenged powers and principalities when faith demands such action."

Dandala, 51, is known for his efforts in conflict resolution in the 1980s,
especially during the height of the apartheid era in South Africa.  In 1985,
after the declaration of a state of emergency in his country, he was
detained by authorities for 10 days without trial.  In subsequent years he
has been called upon to mediate and work for non-violent solutions in South
Africa and beyond.

He also is known for his dynamic preaching.  Dandala has served as regional
secretary for Southern Africa of World Methodist Evangelism, a program
related to the World Methodist Council.  He was the first black minister in
South Africa to be pastor of a multiracial congregation, at Empangeni on
South Africa's northeast coast, from 1978 to 1982.

Later he served as senior minister of Johannesburg's Central Methodist
Mission, South Africa's largest multiracial Methodist congregation, from
1991 until 1997 when he was elected to his current position as Presiding
Bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.  The MCSA has 1.2 million
members and twice that number of adherents in seven countries.

Dandala also serves as President of the South African Council of Churches
and as Moderator of the Advisory Group on Regional Relations and Ecumenical
Sharing of the Geneva, Switzerland-based World Council of Churches.

He led a WCC multi-national Living Letters delegation of church leaders to
the United States in November 2001 for dialogue with American church leaders
in the wake of that year's September 11 attacks.  Their itinerary included a
meeting with Church World Service and the National Council of Churches USA
during their annual General Assembly.

Dandala is a distinguished scholar with a Master's degree in theology from
Cambridge University (U.K.) and is currently a doctoral degree candidate.

He will take up his new responsibilities on September 1.  He succeeds AACC
Interim General Secretary Mr. Melaku Kifle, who was seconded to the AACC by
the World Council of Churches for a year.

The All Africa Conference of Churches, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is a
fellowship of 168 national churches in 39 African countries with a
congregational membership estimated at 120 million.  National Christian
councils are associate members.

Church World Service is a humanitarian agency of the 36 Protestant, Orthodox
and Anglican member denominations of the National Council of Churches USA.
CWS works in partnership with local organizations in more than 80 countries
to support sustainable self-help and development, meet emergency needs, aid
refugees, and address the root causes of poverty and powerlessness.

 "I look forward to walking the next part of the journey with Bishop
Dandala," said McCullough, "knowing that he will have a profound influence
on and witness amongst the peoples of Africa."

					###

Photo of Bishop Dandala available at:
http://umns.umc.org/photos/headshots.html.  There is no fee but please
credit Mike Dubose/United Methodist News Service.  Contact Mike at
615-742-5470; mdubose@umcom.org

FOR MORE INFORMATION & CWS-RELATED PHOTOS (e.g. John McCullough
head-and-shoulders, or candids from the CWS delegation visit to West Africa
in July 2002), CONTACT:

			Carol Fouke/CWS Media Liaison/New York
			Phone: (212) 870-2252/2227
			e-mail: news@ncccusa.org

			Jan Dragin/Boston/New York
			Phone: (781) 925-1526
			e-mail: jdragin@gis.net