wfn.org | LWF News in Brief

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

New President, Korean Lutheran Church

The Rev. Lee Hong Youl was installed as the fourth president of the
Lutheran Church in Korea (LCK) on October 22, succeeding President
Song Huh. Ordained in the LCK in 1985, Youl, 47, attended Yon Sei
University where he majored in New Testament Theology. From
1984-1989, he served as a lecturer at the Luther Seminary in Seoul,
Korea. Prior to his appointment as LCK president, he served on
several church committees including education, stewardship and
evangelism. A prolific author in Korean, Youl's writings include
"Discipleship," a book of educational resources for new comers to the
Lutheran church, "Pastor, Your Preaching Today was Spoiled," a
collection of pastoral essays, and "Planting Love, Harvesting Worth,"
a second collection of pastoral letters, among others. He has also
translated several books into Korean. Youl envisages church planting
and strengthening the LCK in its local mission activities including
the promotion of youth and women's ministries. His wife Mrs. Lee is
an active church leader. They have one son. The over 3,000-member LCK
joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1972.

LWF Staff News

Robert H. Granke Appointed as DWS Director 

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Executive Committee, acting on
behalf of the LWF Council, has accepted the General Secretary's
recommendation to appoint Mr. Robert H. Granke from Canada to the
position of Director of the LWF Department for World Service (DWS)
for a period of four years. Following the November 15 appointment,
Granke has resigned as National Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada (ELCIC), a position to which he was re-elected for a
second term last July. Granke, 47, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree
from the University of Manitoba, Canada and has taken various courses
in international management. From 1992-1997, Granke served as Program
Manager with the Canadian Hunger Foundation, an Ottawa-based
voluntary organization with responsibility for two Canadian
International Development Agency bilateral projects in Guyana and
India. For 15 years he held various positions with Canadian Lutheran
World Relief (CLWR), the ELCIC and Lutheran Church-Canada delivery
arm service for development programming and overseas relief. The
positions included Director for Coalition Relations, 1990-1992, CLWR
Project Manager, 1987-1992, responsible for project planning,
monitoring and evaluation in Africa, Asia, South and Central America,
and Development Education Manager, 1977-1986. Granke and his wife
Rev. Lynn Granke have three children. He is expected to take up his
new post in March 2002, succeeding Rev. Rudolf Hinz who has served as
DWS director since 1995.

Asked to comment on the appointment of the new DWS Director, LWF
General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko said Granke brings relevant
experience to the work of the LWF/DWS from his many years spent as a
staff person of CLWR, an LWF related agency. "He has deep knowledge
of churches' involvement in diaconia and has visited many LWF member
churches and church aid agencies. I welcome Bob to the federation and
look forward to his contribution to the life and work of LWF member
churches and the ecumenical community," Noko added. 

Nigerian to Become DMD Area Secretary for Africa

At its November meeting, the LWF Executive Committee appointed Rev.
Dr. Musa Filibus from the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN)
to the position of Area Secretary for Africa in the LWF Department
for Mission and Development (DMD) for a period of four years
beginning next September. Ordained in 1994, Filibus taught at
government schools in Nigeria from 1982-1993. From 1998 to date he
has been lecturer and provost at the Bronnum Lutheran Seminary in
Adamawa State, northern Nigeria, where the LCCN headquarters are
located. Filibus holds a doctorate in pastoral theology and care from
Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, 1994-1998. From 1995-1997
he was trained in clinical pastoral education specializing in
children with disabilities. His Bachelor of Divinity degree from the
Theological College of Northern Nigeria was earned in 1992. He will
succeed Rev. Dr. Vivian V. Msomi, Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Southern Africa (South Africa), who has served as DMD Area Secretary
for Africa since 1995. The 700,000-member LCCN joined the LWF in
1961. 

New Representative, DWS India 

Mr. Howard Jost, a US citizen, is the new representative of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS) in
India. Jost ,57, assumed his new responsibilities on November 8,
taking over from Mr. Mogens Jeppesen who has headed the India program
since 1998. Jost holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master Degree in
history and religion. For more than 30 years, he has held various
positions at home and abroad with the National Council of Churches of
Christ in the USA and its global relief and development arm, Church
World Service (CWS). Before joining the LWF, Jost served as CWS
Country Director in Cambodia from 1997 to 2001. From 1972-1977 he
worked as CWS representative in Bangladesh. As a volunteer with the
Middle East Council of Churches he worked with CWS in Pakistan from
1966-1968. Jost and his wife Shanti have one adult son and a
daughter.

New Representative for DWS Eritrea

Norwegian Mr. Arthur Johan Hoyen, began his new assignment as
representative of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for
World Service (DWS) in Eritrea last August succeeding Abraham Voets,
from the Netherlands. A member of the Norwegian Society of Chartered
Engineers, Hoyen, 52, has worked with Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), an
ecumenical, independent development aid organization for eight years,
serving in Africa and Asia. From 1998-1999, he worked as a project
engineer and planning manager with private firms in Norway and
abroad. From 1990-1998 he worked as head of airport services, civil
aviation and administration in Trondheim. He began work with NCA in
1979 serving for four years as engineering project coordinator in
Torit, southern Sudan. For the next three years, he worked as a
senior engineer with the Norwegian state oil company, Statoil. From
1986-1988, Hoyen was NCA's program director in the Sudan and Kenya.
As NCA's resident representative in Thailand, 1988-1990, he managed
various projects there and in Malaysia and Laos. Hoyen is married,
and has four children.

Kathy Magnus Appointed as LWF North American Regional Expression
Officer

Kathy J. Magnus, associate director for international personnel,
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global
Mission, has been appointed regional expression officer for the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in North America, effective 1 January
2002. Magnus succeeds Rev. Arthur Leichnitz, an Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada (ELCIC) pastor, who has served as the first LWF
North America Regional Expression Officer since 1998. On January 1
Leichnitz takes up his new post in Geneva as Coordinator for the LWF
Tenth Assembly, which will be held 21-31 July 2003, in Winnipeg,
Canada. The LWF North America Regional Committee appointed Magnus
during its November 26-27 meeting in Chicago, USA. Committee members
include representatives the ELCA and ELCIC. In her new role, Magnus
will serve as a staff person of the Geneva-based LWF Department for
Mission and Development (DMD). She will be located in the Chicago
ELCA churchwide offices. Magnus is a member of the board of directors
for Church World Service, New York, and a member of the World Council
of Churches Central Committee. From 1991 to 1997, she served as ELCA
vice president. From 1988 to 1997, Magnus was an assistant to the
bishop and executive for leadership development of the ELCA Rocky
Mountain Synod in Denver.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 133
member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5 million of the
64.3 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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