wfn.org | Title: Two candidates for WCC general secretary position

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release 03-29.04e
For Immediate Use
27 August 2003

CENTRAL COMMITTEE				    04

Two candidates for WCC general secretary position

Following a closed session in which two candidates for the position of WCC
general secretary were presented to the Central Committee, the body's
moderator, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia, released the names of
the candidates. 

They are Rev. Canon Dr Trond Bakkevig and Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. 

Kobia, from Kenya, is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church in Kenya
and currently director and special representative for Africa of the WCC. 

Bakkevig, from Norway, is a pastor of the (Lutheran) Church of Norway and
currently member of the WCC Central Committee and the moderator of its Public
Issues Committee. 

The election of the new general secretary will take place Thursday afternoon
in a closed session. A press release will be issued immediately following the
announcement of the election. A press conference with the new general
secretary will be held on Friday, beginning at 12:40, in the Ecumenical
Centre.

Biographical information and photos of both candidates are available at: 

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/pc_bakkevigbio.html 

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/press_corner/pc_kobiabio.html 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 /61 53

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 341, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly, which
meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in
1948 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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