ELCA News Blog
August 29, 2007
Luther Institute honors Ambassador Knut Vollebaek of Norway
by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service
The Luther Insititute, Washington, D.C., will present one of its 2007 Wittenberg Awards to Knut Vollebaek, Norway's ambassador to the United States, at a ceremony Aug. 29 at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, Washington. Vollebaek served as Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs and "played a key role in negotiating the end to the conflict in Kosovo through his position as chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)," according to a Luther Institute news release. He will have been ambassador from March 2001 to September 2007, when he will return to OSCE as High Commissioner for Minorities.
Vollebaek will receive the Wittenberg Award "for his outstanding service to his country, for world peace and as a wonderful example of a Christian person living out his vocation in the world," according to the release. "Vollebaek has done much to promote educational opportunities between institutions in Norway and the United States. Each year he has convened a gathering of alumni from the historically Norwegian-American Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C., on the occasion of the Nobel Peace Prize awards."
The Luther Institute is an independent center for laity and clergy fostering education and research on social, educational and ethical issues in the public sphere. It conducts programs to promote its mission and to advance the roles of faith and ethics in public life. The Institute inaugurated the Wittenberg Awards in 1990 to recognize specific Lutheran laity and clergy from around the world for distinguished service to church and society. Another purpose for the awards is to encourage other Lutherans to accept calls to service and servant leadership.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog