wfn.org | WCC-AACC meeting

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

Plese note that Rev. André Karamaga is the president of the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda and not of the Methodist Church, as stated in our original press release today.  An amended text follows.  Please excuse this error.

World Council of Churches
WCC Press Release
For Immediate Use
21 March 2000

Governing bodies of the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches meet for the first time

Life-threatening issues facing Africa as well as signs of hope on the continent are the focus of a joint meeting of African members of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and General Committee members of the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).

The meeting - in Nairobi, Kenya, 20-21 March - is the first of its kind, and was  planned jointly by AACC and the WCC Africa Task Force. 

The 30-member AACC General Committee and the 28 African members of the WCC Central Committee are expected to identify priority issues facing Africa which the two ecumenical bodies can address and work on jointly at the start of the new millennium. The delegates are also being asked to explore areas of convergence and possible sharing of tasks and responsibilities, and to consider linkages with the three existing sub-regional fellowships: the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa (FECCLAHA), the Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa (FECISA), and the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West Africa (FECCIWA) as well as with a new fellowship proposed for Central Africa.  

Further objectives for the two governing bodies are a common strategy for closer collaboration with other regional ecumenical expressions and institutions, common advocacy concerns and plans for mutual accountability. 

The meeting is being co-moderated by AACC president, the Very Rev. Professor Kwesi Dickson (Ghana), and WCC president, Dr Agnes Aboum (Kenya).  Keynote speakers are the president of the Presbyterian Church of Rwanda, Rev. André Karamaga (Rwanda), on "The one ecumenical movement" and Dr Agnes  Aboum on "Issues facing Africa".

For further information, please contact:

AACC press and information officer, 
Mitch Odero, e-mail: mitch@insightkenya.com 

WCC media relations officer, 
Karin Achtelstetter, e-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 

Tel.: +254-2-891 201 
Fax: +254-2-891 949

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 337, 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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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