wfn.org | Canadian nominated LWF regional expression officer for North America

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

CHICAGO/GENEVA, 26 March 1998 (elca/lwi) - The Rev. Arthur Leichnitz, from
Canada, has been nominated to serve as the regional expression officer for
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in North America. A pastor of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), Leichnitz will be located in
the churchwide offices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
in Chicago. He will begin a two-year term in April.

Leichnitz will be responsible for coordinating interpretation and education
about the LWF in the North American churches, facilitating communication
and new cooperative mission ventures. He will be a member of the LWF's
Department for Mission and Development (DMD) staff.

Leichnitz has served congregations in Winnipeg, most recently as Lutheran
campus chaplain at the University of Manitoba and youth ministry
facilitator for the ELCIC Manitoba/Northwest Ontario Synod. He has served
on the ELCIC National Church Council and attended the LWF Council meeting
in Namibia in 1995.

The LWF Regional Office in North America represents a new initiative of the
LWF and the two North American member churches, according to the Rev.
Daniel F. Martensen, director of the ELCA's Department for Ecumenical
Affairs. "We see it as a very important step forward in relating to the
LWF," he said.

The LWF-DMD includes area desks for Africa, Asia, Europe as well as Latin
America and the Caribbean. So far, there is no area desk for North America
in the Geneva secretariat. Since the restructuring of the LWF in 1990, the
DMD director is responsible for this region. The churches have been
encouraged since the early nineties, within the framework of the LWF
restructuring, to discuss among themselves which form of regional
expression they would prefer. Like North America, Africa and Asia have
opted for regional offices whereas Latin America and the Caribbean have
chosen the annual conference of church presidents and bishops as their
forum.

The first regional office was opened in July 1996 in Nairobi, Kenya, by LWF
Regional Coordinator for Africa, Dr. Colette Bouka Coula, Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Cameroon. The second followed with LWF Regional
Consultant for Asia, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, Ms. Regina Samuel,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia.

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