wfn.org | LWF Council News in brief

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

 ... LWF Council approves Geneva Coordination Budget. The LWF Council
has approved the expenditure of CHF 14.8 million (USD 9.9 million) for
the Geneva Coordination Budget for 2000. This represents an increase of
1.1 per cent against the CHF 14.6 million (USD 10.1 million), which was
the revised budget for 1999. The overall LWF Summary of Needs (SON) for
the period 2000-2002 which comprises the requests from different
departments and offices was approved. The SON for the year 2000 amounts
to USD 61.6 million.

 ... Report on the Prioritization and Workload Assessment Project. The
LWF Council received the report on the assessment of workload and
priority setting in the Geneva Secretariat. The report was presented by
the Deputy General Secretary Ms Agneta Ucko. She was assisted in the
presentation by the coordinator Rev. Dr. Michael Rothaar (Seconded by
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he is the church's director
for planning in its Division for Congregational Ministries). The Council
asked the LWF general secretary to take appropriate steps resulting from
this project and continue the ongoing review of goals, programs and
functions of the secretariat. Requested by the Council in 1996, the
Prioritization and Workload Assessment Project aims at assessing the
workload and priority setting in the Geneva Secretariat with
consideration to cutting out and finishing projects in accordance with
priorities and availability of resources. Part of the prioritization
process is the development of a three-year Program Plan and Statement of
Needs (SON) based on the Federation's aims and goals.

 ... LWF Council confirms dates for 2000 meeting in Finland. The
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council will meet in Finland's west
coastal city of Turku from 14 to 21 June 2000. An invitation had been
extended by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) and an
affirmative decision was taken by the LWF Council meeting in Bratislava,
Slovak Republic. The Council was welcomed for its next meeting by the
LWF National Committee in Finland. The general secretary for the year
2000 celebrations in Finland, Ms Anneli Janhonen, (a former director of
the LWF Office for Communication Services) informed the Council about
the millennium celebrations to take place under the theme "The year of
hope".

 ... New staff in Geneva. The LWF Executive Committee meeting in
Bratislava, approved the appointment of three persons to the Geneva
staff. Dirk Michael Grotzsch from Leipzig, Germany, was appointed to a
four-year term as assistant editor information (German) in the LWF
Office for Communication Services (OCS). A theology graduate from the
University of Leipzig, Grotzsch, 34, has worked as a freelance
journalist with the German public broadcasting corporation, ARD and the
Radio PSR (Private Saxon Broadcasting Corporation). He is from the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony. Dr. Karen L. Bloomquist, 51, from
the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) joins the LWF
Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) as Study Secretary for the
Church and Social Issues. She will serve in her new position for one
year as she is on sabbatical leave from the ELCA and Wartburg
Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, USA. Dr. Jacob Koos Schep from The
Netherlands is the new secretary for Project Implementation and
Monitoring with the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD) for
a four-year period. Schep, 41, holds a Masters degree in Political
Science and International Relations from the University of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands. He has worked as a development adviser with churches,
church and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). He is a member of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of The Netherlands.
Also new in the Geneva secretariat is the Rev. Dr. Paivi Hannele
Jussila, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Appointed by mail vote
in March this year, she takes up a four-year term with the DTS as study
secretary at the desk for Worship and Congregational Life. Jussila, 36,
studied at the University of Helsinki and the University of Jyvaskyla
for her Master of Theology and Master of Philosophy, respectively, and
at Cambridge University, Great Britain, for her doctorate in theology.
Before joining the LWF staff in Geneva this July Dr. Jussila, a diocesan
pastor, worked as an assistant to the bishop in the ELCF's Lapua
Diocese. The Executive Committee also appointed by mail vote last
February Ms Jessie Kgoroeadira from South Africa to a two-year term as
finance officer with the Action by Churches Together (ACT). Prior to
joining the LWF, Kgoroeadira, 52, was the director for finance and
personnel with the South African Council of Churches (SACC).

 ... New faces at LWF Council. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the
Central African Republic (CAR) and the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church
(KELC) have new representatives on the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Council. During the Council meeting here from 22 to 29 June 1999, Ms
Madeleine Zari-Doka, 26, was confirmed as elected youth member of the
Council, replacing Ms Anne-Marie Ndanga-Toue from the Lutheran church in
the CAR. Mr. Paul Mbugua Kamau, 27, also elected youth member, replaces
former KELC representative, Mr. Gabriel Kamau. Madeleine, a mother of
three young children, works as secretary for the women's department and
administration in her church. Kamau who is single is a choirmaster in
his local congregation, youth secretary in the Nairobi parish and
volunteer at the KELC's women's desk. The former is a member of the LWF
Program Committee for Theology and Studies while the latter joins the
Standing Committee for International Affairs and Human Rights. Their
predecessors, elected at the Ninth Assembly in Hong Kong in 1997, served
on the same committees respectively. The CAR church has 55,000 while the
KELC has 21,720 members. In both cases but for different reasons, the
previous Council members were replaced as they no longer enjoyed the
confidence of the respective member churches, as stipulated in the LWF
Bylaws.

 ... LWF Council pays tribute to the late Ilse Labadie. The LWF Council
meeting in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, observed a moment of silence in
honor of former Council member, the late Mrs Ilse Labadie who passed
away on 14 June 1999 following illness. A retired banker, Labadie, 66,
was the lay president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Suriname and
vice-chairperson of the LWF Program Committee for Finance and
Administration. At home and at a regional level, she was active in
organizations involved in the promotion of human rights.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/