wfn.org | Aaron Tolen

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

World Council of Churches
Press Release
For Immediate Use
7 April 1999

DR AARON TOLEN

A former president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from
1991-1998, Dr Aaron Tolen, died today at Yaounde, Cameroon, at the
age of 61 years. Tolen was a member of the Evangelical Church of
Cameroon. By profession a political scientist and Africanist, he was
Executive Secretary of the Department of Church Development and
Evangelical Mission in Cameroon.

Tolen's life was closely linked to the ecumenical movement. From
1966-69 he was the permanent representative of the World Student
Christian Federation (WSCF) to UNESCO and later, until 1974, WSCF's
African and Madagascar Regional Secretary.
Between 1969 and 1975 he served on the WCC Commission on the
Churches' Participation in Development and on the Executive Committee
of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. In 1983
Tolen became a member of the WCC Executive Committee, and from
1991-1998 he was the Moderator of the Public Issues Committee.

Contact:  Karin Achtelstetter,  Media Relations Officer

**********
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 338, 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.

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