wfn.org | Mbeki to attend WCC Assembly

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

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
16 October 1998

THABO MBEKI TO ATTEND WCC ASSEMBLY IN ZIMBABWE

Further to our press release WCC EIGHTH ASSEMBLY UPDATE, dated
October 1998, we are pleased to announce that His Excellency Thabo
Mbeki, Executive Deputy President of South Africa, has accepted an
invitation to attend  the forthcoming World Council of Churches Eighth
Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mr Mbeki will be one of the main speakers at a public event on the
afternoon of Sunday 13 December to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the WCC.  Mr Mbeki has been invited to convey to the Assembly his
vision for Africa in the coming years and to reflect on how the churches
might best express their solidarity with the peoples of Africa in the Third
Millennium.

The other main speaker at the event will be Rev. Dr Philip Potter, third
general secretary of the WCC.  The presenter will be Dr Pauline Webb, a
prominent British ecumenist and broadcaster.

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 332, 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
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