wfn.org | LWF President Krause Resigns as Brunswick Bishop

["Frank Imhoff" <FRANKI@elca.org>]

He Will Continue as LWF President Until 2003

GOSLAR, Germany/GENEVA, 18 May 2001 (LWI) - The president of the Lutheran
World Federation (LWF) Bishop Dr. Christian Krause will resign next January
as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brunswick.

This was announced on May 17 in Gosslar, Germany following a meeting of the
church decision-making body.

Krause, who was elected bishop seven years ago announced that he will
continue heading the Brunswick church until 6 January 2002 when he turns 62.
He remains president of the LWF.

Krause said he considered his resignation as head of the Brunswick church
from the perspective that a different generation should take over
leadership, and because he wished to give the church synod enough time to
make a decision on his possible successor. Taking this step was not easy,
but for the sake of the church, it was the right thing to do, he said. The
new synod, which will assume office in 2002, could therefore deal with
topical issues. The Brunswick church joined the LWF in 1947. It has 450,000
members in over 400 congregations.

Prior to his appointment as Brunswick bishop, Krause was general secretary
of Germany's churches' conference, Kirchentag. He was elected LWF president
at the federation's Ninth Assembly in 1997 in Hong Kong, China. He continues
in this capacity until the Tenth Assembly of the LWF that will take place in
July 2003 in Winnipeg, Canada.

Krause will keep his position as chairperson of the Hermann-Kunst Foundation
and also as president of the Board of the Evangelical Development Service,
(Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst) - EED.

Translated from an article by the Evangelischer Pressedienst - epd

(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 acknowledgment.]

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