wfn.org | Bishop Lesslie Newbigin

[Sheila MESA <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
2 February 1998

BISHOP LESSLIE NEWBIGIN

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has issued the following tribute to
Bishop Lesslie Newbigin who died last Friday, 30 January 1998, aged
88.  The tribute is signed by Ms Mary Ann Lundy, WCC Acting General
Secretary (General Secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, is currently on a
visit to Russia).

" The loss of Bishop Lesslie Newbigin is inestimable for the ecumenical
movement and the World Council of Churches around the globe.

As a senior statesman of the movement, he saw the WCC develop from
its beginning in Amsterdam fifty years ago and was within the circle of
the Student Christian Movement which provided so many ecumenical
leaders.

At his death, Bishop Newbigin was a member of the United Reformed
Church in the United Kingdom.  He was ordained as a Presbyterian
minister by the Church of Scotland in 1936 and sent to work in India. 
Throughout his life, Bishop Newbigin was totally committed to the
movement for church unity not just in theory but also in practice.  He
worked tirelessly in negotiations such as those which led to the
establishment of the Church of South India in 1947.  At the inauguration
of the CSI he was appointed bishop in Madurai and Ramnad.

Bishop Newbigin's great theological insight was evident in his leadership
of the International Missionary council, which he led to the point of its
integration in the WCC at the New Delhi Assembly in 1961, and in his
subsequent roles of WCC Associate General Secretary and Director of
the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism until 1965.  He then
returned to serve the CSI as Bishop of Madras until he retired in 1974.

Just over a year ago, Bishop Newbigin was present at the latest
Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Salvador, Brazil where
he challenged the churches to address the current domination of the
world by the "Western free-market culture".  He chided the churches for
not doing more: "We are so domesticated in Western culture that we
have not had the courage to challenge it".

The loss of Bishop Newbigin will be felt throughout the Christian world. 
However, his legacy will live on and continue to shape the ecumenical
vision for the new millennium."

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 330, 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, Netherlands.  Its staff is
headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church
in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Press and Information Office
Tel:  (41.22) 791.61.52/51
Fax:  (41.22) 798 13 46
E-Mail: jwn@wcc-coe.org
http://www.wcc-coe.org

P.O. Box 2100
CH-1211 Geneva 2