Eberhard Hitzler to Head LWF Department for World Service Experience in Church Development Work in Germany and Africa
GENEVA, 13 April 2006 (LWI) * Oberkirchenrat Eberhard Jakob Hitzler from Germany will assume the position of director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) in July 2006. Hitzler, 53, was appointed by the LWF Executive Committee at its March meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. His initial term is four years.
He will succeed Mr Robert Granke who joined the relief development organization, Canadian Lutheran World Relief in March 2006.
Since 2000, Hitzler has been head of the department for development policy at the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) headquarters in Hanover, and head of the organization's Africa department since 2003. He was executive secretary of EKD's church development services, 1998 to 2000.
He pursued theological and mission studies at the Mission Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria in Neuendettelsau, Germany, 1972 to 1978. From 1976 until 1977, he studied African theology, religion and Islam in East Africa among other subjects, at the Makumira Theological College, Usa River, in Tanzania. From 1978 until 1980, he was a vicar in the Nuernberg-Worzeldorf parish. He was ordained as a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria in May 1981, and served as a pastor of St Anna Parish, Augsburg, 1980 to 1983.
Hitzler served as a missionary to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Arusha diocese, 1984 to 1991. Alongside pastoral responsibility for 15 congregations, he was coordinator of several community-based development projects, and assisted in developing the diocese's HIV/AIDS work. From 1991 until 1998, he worked with the Protestant Association for Cooperation in Development (EZE) in Bonn, Germany, as head of the policy and communications' department.
Hitzler and his wife, Monika Hobelsberger-Hitzler, have two children.
As the LWF's internationally recognized humanitarian and development agency, DWS works with marginalized and disadvantaged communities in areas of greatest vulnerability and endemic need. It cooperates within global networks that include ecumenical, governmental and non-governmental partners. In 2004, DWS spent a total of USD 87 million in its 24 programs in 37 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin and Central America. (360 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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