wfn.org | Achtelstetter, Director, LWF Office for Communication Services

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

Achtelstetter Appointed Director, LWF Office for Communication
Services

GENEVA, 6 June 2002 (LWI) - German theologian and journalist Ms.
Karin W. Achtelstetter, becomes the new director and
editor-in-chief of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Office for
Communication Services (OCS).

Currently coordinator of the Public Information Team and media
relations officer, World Council of Churches (WCC), Achtelstetter
was appointed by the LWF Executive Committee and will take up her
new assignment at the Geneva secretariat in August.

She succeeds Rev. John A. Evenson whose service with the LWF
concluded at the end of last year. Ms. Barbara Robra, German
theologian and artist has worked as OCS coordinator since last
November.

Before joining the WCC in March 1999, Achtelstetter served for
over four years as assistant editor with the LWF, and was
responsible for the production of the German edition of Lutheran
World Information (LWI). In addition, she taught various courses
as visiting lecturer of the department of Christian communication,
faculty of theology, Friedrich-Alexander University in
Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany.

Achtelstetter earned her first degree in theology from the
Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg (1982). She
was a visiting student at  McGill University, Montreal, Canada,
specializing in feminist theology and Jewish studies, before
obtaining a first degree in sociology (1984) from
Erlangen-Nuremberg. She pursued post-graduate studies at the
University of Kent, Canterbury, England, graduating with a Master
of Arts in Women's Studies (1987), and a Master of Theology from
Erlangen-Nuremberg in 1989.

Her first stint with journalism was with a Protestant weekly in
Munich, Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt in 1983. Her editorial
training (1989-1991) at the Protestant press union in Munich
included experience at various news agencies, newspapers and radio
stations including the public Bavarian broadcasting corporation,
leading to the position of editor of Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt.
She was founding-editor of a religious quarterly, Evangelische
Aspekte and author of radio features, 1991-1994.

Rev. Dr. Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary said Achtelstetter
brings into the communication position tested professional and
ecumenical experience.

Achtelstetter, 41, is married, and is a member of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Bavaria.

(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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