wfn.org | LWI 2009-051 LWF Congratulates Newly Elected WCC General Secretary Olav Fykse Tveit

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LWF Congratulates Newly Elected WCC General Secretary Olav Fykse
Tveit
Noko Highlights Norwegian Lutheran's Ecumenical Experience

GENEVA, 27 August 2009 (LWI) – The general secretary of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko
congratulates Norwegian Lutheran theologian Dr Olav Fykse Tveit
on his election as the new general secretary of the World Council
of Churches (WCC) today, 27 August. The 48 year-old will succeed
Kenyan Methodist Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, who has served as the
Council's general secretary since January 2004. 

Tveit brings to his new position broad experience that prepares
him to lead in all the aspects of WCC’s work, said Noko in his
statement today. The LWF general secretary noted that the newly
elected WCC leader “has worked at every level of the church,
from parish life and chaplaincy to national and international
positions.” 

Noko cited Tveit’s leadership in diakonia, advocacy, and in
both ecumenical and interfaith relations. "He is a theologian and
an administrator. And he is a person of deep faith, modest manner
and forthright speech. All these experiences and gifts will serve
him well as he leads the WCC," noted the LWF general secretary.
"We are especially pleased also that he already knows the WCC
very well. As he moves to Geneva to take up his new duties, he
will find himself quickly at home," he said.

In his statement, Noko pointed out that this was a crucial time
in the life of this indispensable ecumenical body. "The WCC plays
a unique and vital role in the ecumenical movement: if we did not
have a WCC, we would need to invent one!" he stated. "We look to
the Council as the global body where the churches of the world
may communicate and cooperate on the basis of a common faith in
the Triune God, in the service of Christian unity and the
well-being of humanity," he added.

Noko said the coming years "can be a time of sowing and of
harvest, a time when extraordinary things can be accomplished by
ordinary means." It would be the task of the incoming general
secretary to lead the WCC to grasp the great opportunities that
present themselves amid great challenges, he noted.

Noko expressed his hope for increased cooperation between the
WCC and the LWF, citing the newly created emergency and
development work network, ACT Alliance (Action by Churches
Together) as one such example for new forms of ecumenical
collaboration. Even the challenges posed by the current
world-wide financial crisis invite organizations to create new
possibilities. "We pledge to work with the new general secretary
in seeking imaginative and faithful ways to bear common witness,"
he said.

"May God bless him with great energy and the gifts of
discernment and generosity in his very important calling in the
worldwide ecumenical movement."

Noko praised the outgoing WCC general secretary for his service
to "the ecumenical movement and the WCC with loving devotion. We
will miss his gentle presence among us, and we extend our best
wishes to him and to his family in all that they do." 

Kobia is scheduled to leave office at the end of this year.

The incoming WCC leader Tveit is an ordained pastor in the
Church of Norway. He has been general secretary of the church’s
Council on Ecumenical and International Relations since 2002. He
previously worked as secretary for the church’s Doctrinal
Commission, 1999-2000, and Church-State Relations, 2001-2002. He
served as a parish priest in Haram, More Diocese, 1988-91, and
was an army chaplain during his 1987-88 compulsory year of
national service. 

Tveit is a member of the WCC Faith and Order Plenary Commission
and co-chairperson of the WCC Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum
core group. He is a member of the Christian Council of Norway
board of directors and executive committee, moderator of the
Church of Norway  -  Islamic Council of Norway contact group and
similarly for the Jewish Congregation contact group. He is a
member of both the Inter-Faith Council of Norway and the
Norwegian Church Aid board of trustees.

The Church of Norway has nearly 3.9 million members and joined
the LWF in 1947.

Formally inaugurated in 1948 at its first Assembly in Amsterdam,
Netherlands, the WCC is a Christian organization dedicated to the
search for Christian unity. Its 349 member churches represent
some 560 million Christians. Today’s member churches come from
more than 110 countries on all continents and include Orthodox,
Anglican, Protestant, United and other churches. A majority of
member churches now come from the South. (747 words)

>*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of 68.5 million. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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