LWI News in Brief No. 5/2006
- Tamas Fabiny Becomes Bishop of the Northern District of Hungary's Lutheran Church - Errol Inshanally Elected President of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana - Church of Sweden Ordains First Deaf Pastor - André Golike Succeeds Zoulé as President of Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic - Lutheran Paul Johnson to Serve as a Vice President of Canadian Council of Churches - Canadian Lutheran World Relief Appoints Daranne Mills as Communications Director - Bishop Andreas Stoekl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia Dies
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Tamas Fabiny Becomes Bishop of the Northern District of Hungary's Lutheran Church
Rev. Dr Tamas Fabiny, a professor for New Testament theology at the Evangelical Lutheran Theological University in Budapest, is the new bishop of the Northern District of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary. He was installed at Miskolc, Hungary, on 25 March, succeeding Imre Szebik, who retired on 1 March.
Fabiny, 46, was a student at Budapest's Evangelical Lutheran Theological Academy from 1977 to 1982, and ordained as a pastor in 1982. While assistant pastor in Siofok, Hungary, from 1982 to 1986, he also studied abroad, in Germany from 1984 to 1985, and in the United States of America from 1985 to 1986. Following his second theological examination in 1987, he worked as a parish pastor in Budapest-Kobanya from 1987 to 1999.
Fabiny received his doctorate from the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, for his dissertation on "Dramaturgy and Communications in Jesus' Parables." He was appointed lecturer at Budapest's Evangelical Lutheran Theological University in 1999, and following his "Habilitation" (post-doctoral degree) from the Reformed Theological University of Debrecen, Hungary, he was again named professor for New Testament theology at the Evangelical Lutheran Theological University in Budapest.
Since 1996, Fabiny has been active as a producer of religious programming for Hungary's Duna Televizio television network, producing some 100 reports and documentaries on topics including church and society, Christians and Jews, the Bible, and congregational life. He has also chaired the media committee of Hungary's Lutheran church since 1997.
Bishop Fabiny is married with three children.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary, with some 305,000 members, has been an LWF member church since 1947. (275 words)
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Errol Inshanally Elected President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana
Rev. Errol Inshanally is the new president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana (ELCG). Inshanally, a 45-year-old theologian, was elected to succeed Rev. Roy K. Thakurdyal at the 63rd Church Assembly in early May at the ELCG Camp and Retreat Center in Skeldon, Corentyne, Berbice, Guyana. Thakurdyal had served as president for ten years.
Inshanally was ordained in 1985 after completing his theological studies in Jamaica. He is the pastor of St John Lutheran Parish on the River Corentyne. He and his wife have two children.
The ELCG, with some 11,000 members, has been an LWF member church since 1947. (114 words)
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Church of Sweden Ordains First Deaf Pastor
Rev. Johan Selin, the first deaf pastor in Sweden said he hoped his ordination would mark the beginning for many more deaf people willing to work within the Church of Sweden.
Ordained together with his fellow hearing colleague, Greger Larsson on 11 June 2006, Selin "wants to develop [a] church for the deaf within the Church of Sweden, and create a church for deaf people on their own conditions," a Church of Sweden press release stated.
The ordination service in the Cathedral of Haernoesand, northern Sweden, was the first of its kind. It was celebrated entirely in sign language and no hymns were played. There was dancing and poetry in sign language. Interpretation into Swedish was provided for the hearing part of the congregation.
During his first year as a curate, Selin will work part-time in the parish of Saebra and the remaining part at the Haernoesand Diocesan Office.
The Church of Sweden has around 7 million members, representing nearly 80 percent of the country's population. (173 words)
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André Golike Succeeds Zoulé as President of Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic
Rev. André Golike has been elected president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic (EELRC). The 46-year-old was named as successor to Rev. André Zoulé at the church's general synod meeting held at the end of April in Baboua. Zoulé has led the church for the past eight years. Golike assumed office on 2 July, and will serve a four-year term, which is renewable once.
Following his election, Golike said that during his term he will lay emphasis on strengthening the faith of church members, educating youth, and establishing good management of resources and finances.
From 1981 until 1983, Golike worked as an assistant catechist at the Lutheran Center in Baboua. He then entered the seminary in Baboua and was ordained in October 1994. He went on to study the English language from 1994 until 1995 in Accra, Ghana, and completed his studies in theology at the Makumira Faculty of Theology in Tanzania. From 2000 until 2005, he was co-director of the seminary in Baboua, as well as a part-time director of school projects. He is married and has six children.
The EELRC was established in 1930 and became independent in 1973. It has been a member of the LWF since 1974. The church has seven regions and 27 districts. More than 60 pastors are responsible for around 55,000 members in 555 congregations. (238 words)
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Lutheran Paul Johnson to Serve as a Vice President of Canadian Council of Churches
Rev. Paul N. Johnson, assistant to the bishop for ecumenical relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), has been elected for a three-year term as one of three vice presidents of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC).
The elections took place at the CCC's biannual governing board meeting in Toronto on 24 May. Johnson has worked in the ELCIC national office since March 2003. He has served on the CCC governing board, and has also assumed numerous ecumenical responsibilities including serving as the ELCIC staff person on the Joint Anglican Lutheran Commission, and participating in the ecumenical officers group of the World Council of Churches.
The newly elected CCC President for the 2006-2009 triennium is Rev. Dr James T. Christie, dean of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Winnipeg, and dean of the university's Global College. He is a United Church of Canada minister.
The ELCIC has around 182,000 members and has been a CCC member since 1986. It has been a member church of the Lutheran World Federation also since 1986. (188 words) (ELCIC News)
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Canadian Lutheran World Relief Appoints Daranne Mills as Communications Director
Ms Daranne R. Mills has been appointed as the new Director of Communication s and Education of Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR).
Starting in August, she will be responsible for leading and working with the CLWR communications team in the development of tools and materials to challenge and educate the constituency it serves. Her role will also include ensuring that the organization is well represented in the public media, as well as development of effective fundraising initiatives.
A student of the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Mills aged 29, has participated in CLWR cross-cultural programs in Peru and India. She is currently serving an internship at the Hope Lutheran Church in Calgary, Alberta. From 2002 until 2003, prior to entering the seminary, she served as an intern with the Lutheran World Federation Office for Communication Services (LWF/OCS) in Geneva, Switzerland. She also participated in the 2005 workshop of the Youth Leadership Training in Communication program "Towards a Communicating Communion * A Youth Vision," a joint undertaking of the LWF/OCS and LWF Department for Mission and Development.
As the service delivery arm for overseas development programming and relief of the Lutheran Church-Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, CLWR works in partnership with community-based organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. (224 words)
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Bishop Andreas Stoekl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia Dies
Rev. Dr Andreas Stoekl, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia (ELCG), died at the age of 67. The pastor from Hamburg, Germany, suffered sudden heart failure on 2 May during the meeting of the Bishops' Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS) in Omsk, Siberia.
Stoekl was elected bishop by a vast majority, and installed into office at the Sixth ELCG Synod in September 2004. He succeeded Bishop Dr Gert Hummel, a theologian from Wuerttemberg, Germany, who died in March 2004 after assuming office in 1999.
Stoekl had already been active in work for ELCROS, even before retirement from service as a pastor of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hamburg just under two years ago.
The Lutheran parishes of Georgia, which can be traced back mainly to Swabian immigrants who left Wuerttemberg at the beginning of the 19th century, today make up a growing church, which enjoys a lively congregation al life with regular worship services, Bible study, and a youth program. It is an autonomous regional church of ELCROS. (189 words)
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(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.)
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