Indian Theologian Chandran Martin to Take Up Position of LWF Deputy General Secretary Responsibility for LWF Office for Planning
GENEVA, 13 April 2006 (LWI) * Effective early June 2006, Indian theologian and communicator, Rev. Chandran Paul Martin will assume the position of Deputy General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The LWF Executive Committee appointed Martin at its 9-11 March meeting in Geneva.
Martin, 47, is currently executive secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India (UELCI). He has been a member of the LWF Council since 2003, serving as vice-chairperson of the Program Committee for Communication Services.
As deputy to the LWF general secretary, Martin will assume responsibility also for the LWF Office for Planning, and for Council meetings. Other key functions will include coordination of all LWF program planning. His appointment is for an initial period of four years.
He will be taking over tasks currently carried out by incumbent LWF Deputy General Secretary, Ms Karin Achtelstetter, designated by the LWF Council to this position since January 2005. Her term runs concurrently with her responsibilities as director of the LWF Office for Communication Services.
For financial reasons, the LWF Office for Planning has been vacant after the January 2003 departure of Ms Agneta Ucko from Sweden, who had served as deputy general secretary since April 1996. The Rev. Sven Oppegaard, LWF Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Affairs, was interim deputy general secretary in 2004.
As UELCI chief executive officer since 2002, Martin is responsible for overall coordination, priority setting and strategic planning management for various development-related activities of the 11-member Lutheran church body representing over 3 million Christians. A Dalit ["untouchables" in India's caste system] himself, Martin has been a strong advocate for the Dalit people's liberation through a national process involving the churches, Dalit communities, governments and civil society movements.
Prior to joining the UELCI as its chief executive officer, Martin had served as communications' secretary for the National Council of Churches in India for five years. He first joined the UELCI in 1984 as coordinator of its campus ministry until 1986. He also served as editor of the UELCI's Indian Lutheran news and information journal, 1984 to 1998. From 1988 until 1992, he held the position of project officer and emergency secretary, responsible for the implementation of the organization's diaconal activities. He has authored and co-edited several publications and papers on the churches' perspectives on pertinent issues such as water, the Dalit liberation, and communication and power.
Martin is currently a Ph.D. studies' research scholar in history and archeology with the Acharya Nagarjuna University in Andhra Pradesh, India. He pursued his undergraduate studies locally, receiving a bachelor of divinity from the United Theological College, Serampore University, Bangalore, in 1985, and a bachelor of arts from St Joseph's College of Arts and Science, Bangalore University, Bangalore, in 1980. In 1987, he graduated with a diploma in Christian communication from Trinity and All Saints College, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He earned a master's degree in theology from the Chennai-based Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute in 1999.
The Rev. Chandran Paul Martin and his wife, Mercy Martin, have two children. (525 words)
(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of 66.2 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith 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 LWF's information service. 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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