wfn.org | LWF News in Brief 2

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Gerhard Maier elected Bishop of Wnrttemberg

The Ulm Superintendent, Gerhard Maier is the new bishop of the Evangelical
Church in Wnrttemberg. The 63-year old theologian succeeds Bishop Eberhardt
Renz, who retires at the end of April. Bishop Maier will be installed during
a worship service on 28 April at the Ulm Cathedral.

Maier's election took place on February 14 at a special session of the
electoral college. The church synod had adjourned in November 2000 without
electing a bishop. None of the three contestants at that time received a
sufficient number of votes, and all had subsequently withdrawn their
candidacies. The nominating committee had unanimously proposed Maier as its
new candidate in January. During the election in February, Maier, received
78 votes, which represented the necessary two-thirds majority.

Maier has been a member of the Wnrttemberg church synod for nearly 20 years.
He was one of the spokespersons of the conservative theological discussion
group "Living Congregation". The Church of Wnrttemberg joined the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) in 1947, and it has around 2.4 million members.

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Polish Church Installs New Presiding Bishop

On January 6 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Warsaw, the Rev. Janusz Jagucki,
54, was installed as presiding bishop of the Evangelical Church of the
Augsburg Confession in Poland. Participating in the ceremony were the former
presiding Bishop Jan Szarek; Bishop Paavo Kortekangas from Tampere, Finland;
and Bishop Walter Jagucki of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain.

Jagucki was elected to succeed Szarek by the 10th Synod of the church in
early November 2000. Szarek, who turned 65 on February 13, remains president
of the church's social service agency, and until spring as president of the
Polish Ecumenical Council.

In his inaugural sermon, Bishop Jagucki emphasized that he wanted to
continue the work that Szarek had begun, since evangelization and social
service are very close to his heart. He said he would also like to serve as
pastor for the entire church. In the name of the church, Rev. Tadeusz
Szurman, synod president, expressed gratitude to the outgoing bishop. The
past ten years have been very decisive ones for Polish Lutherans, who have
become well integrated into the new democratic structures in Poland, thanks
to Szarek's ministry, Szurman said.

Bishop Jagucki was born in Sorkwity in 1947 and studied at the Christian
Theological Academy in Warsaw. Ordained in 1970, he served as parish pastor
in Gizycko, Elk, Suwalki and Ryn. He was also inspector for religious
instruction and coordinator for joint work with the Order of St. John of
Jerusalem in the diocese of Masuria. Jagucki is married, with one daughter.

The Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland has around
80,000 members in 130 parishes. It joined the LWF in 1947.
members.

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Hungarian Church has new Presiding Bishop 

Rev. D. Imre Szebik is the new presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Hungary. The 62-year-old theologian from Budapest, previously
bishop of the church's Northern Diocese since 1990, was elected in November
2000 and installed in his new office on 15 December.

The Bishop of the Southern Diocese, Dr. BTla Harmati, who has been presiding
bishop in Hungary and a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
Executive Committee, did not stand for re-election.

Born in Lebeny, western Hungary in 1939, Szebik studied theology and was
ordained by Bishop Lajos Veto in 1962. He served as pastor at Komarom and
Miskolc. From 1985 he was superintendent of the church district of Buda up
to the time of his election as bishop in 1990. For the last four years
Szebik has been moderator of the Lutheran European Commission on Church and
Judaism, which cooperates closely with the LWF. He is also vice-president of
the Ecumenical Council of Hungary. In 1995 he received an honorary doctorate
from the Protestant Theological College of Cluj, Romania. Bishop Szebik is
married, with two children.

The Lutheran Church in Hungary, with around 430,000 members, joined the LWF
in 1947. Lutherans represent the second largest Protestant Christian
confession in Hungary, and include among their members ethnic Germans and
Slovakians among the population.
members.

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First Woman President for Chilean Church

Rev. Gloria Rojas Vargas is the first woman to head the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Chile (IELCH). The Synod Council last September appointed Rojas,
48, to succeed Rev. Martin Junge who took up an appointment with the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. Junge,
who served as the church's president from 1996 to 2000, is the area
secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean at the LWF Department for
Mission and Development. Rev. Rojas studied theology at the Evangelical
Institute for Theological Studies in Latin America (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires,
Argentina, graduating in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in theology. Ordained
in 1985, Rojas has served as pastor in various congregations in Chile. She
was elected to the IELCH Synod Council for the first time in 1986, and was
appointed its vice-president in 1996. Rojas is the second woman leader among
the 14 LWF member churches in the Latin American and Caribbean region. She
is married to Adolfo Covarrublas, and the couple has three children. With
roots in the 19th century, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile was
legally established in 1959. It has 3,000 members.

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Angolan Church has new Leader 

Rev. Titus Namunyekwa was recently elected president of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Angola. Namunyekwa is the successor of Rev. Tobias
Kanguma. The 22,000-member church joined the LWF in 1997.

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Czech Bishop heads Ecumenical Church Council

On January 22, the bishop of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg
Confession in the Czech Republic, Vladislav Volny, was elected president of
the Ecumenical Church Council in the Czech Republic. Bishop Volny will serve
for a two-year term. The Silesian church has a membership of 40,000 people,
and it joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1956.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 131 member
churches in 72 countries representing over 60.2 million of the nearly 64
million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches
in areas of common interest such as ecumenical relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various
aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted, material presented does
not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units.
Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material
may be freely reproduced with acknowledgement.]

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