wfn.org | Title: WCC general secretary to visit Angola

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

World Council of Churches  
Press Release PR-03-31	
For Immediate Use  
2 October 2003	

WCC general secretary to visit churches in Angola   

The last pastoral visit to churches in Africa by the outgoing
general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr
Konrad Raiser, will be to Angola.   

The 7-16 October 2003 visit is intended to discover how the
ecumenical family may accompany the churches in Angola as they
struggle to heal the wounds of the long civil war from which
their country is emerging.   

With "Healing the Land" as its theme, the visit will allow
Raiser to meet representatives of WCC member churches, ecumenical
bodies, government and civil society organizations involved in
Angola's reconstruction after virtually a quarter of a century of
civil war.   

"The WCC stood with the people of Angola in the struggle for
liberation," wrote Council of Christian Churches in Angola
(Consejo de Igrejas Cristas em Angola ) general secretary Rev.
Luis Nguimbi in a letter inviting Raiser to "come to celebrate
with us God's blessings and also to encourage us to work for a
lasting peace".   

Raiser's agenda in Angola includes meetings with president Josi
Eduardo dos Santos and with opposition party representatives on
Tuesday 14 October, visits to a camp for internally displaced
people in Moxico to see work done by churches and NGOs on
Thursday 9 October, and several meetings with church leaders,
youth and women.   

It also includes an ecumenical gathering for worship at the
Cidadela Stadium in the  capital, Luanda, on Sunday 12 October, a
seminar on "Healing the Land", to take place in Luanda and
Lobito, and a lecture on "Challenges to ecumenism in peace
reconstruction: the case of Angola".   

A meeting with the press is scheduled for the morning of
Wednesday 15 October in Luanda.   

During his visit, Raiser will be accompanied by his wife, Dr
Elisabeth Raiser; Ms. Marie Mbelu, general secretary of the
Council of Swaziland Churches and chairperson of the Federation
of Christian Churches in Southern Africa (FOCCISA); Rev. Josi D.
Caetano, general secretary of the Evangelical Pentecostal Mission
of Angola and WCC Central Committee member; Mr Mitch Odero, staff
member of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC); Mr Elias
Massicame, communication officer of the Christian Council of
Mozambique; and Rev. Dr Andri Karamaga, WCC programme executive
for Africa.   

The WCC has four member churches in Angola: Evangelical
Congregational Church in Angola, Evangelical Pentecostal Mission
of Angola, Evangelical Reformed Church of Angola, and United
Evangelical Church "Anglican Communion in Angola".   

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 342, 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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