New Leadership for Community of Protestant Churches in Europe
During the Sixth General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) – Leuenberg Church Fellowship, the newly elected 13-member executive committee appointed Rev. Thomas Wipf of Switzerland as executive president, and Dr Michael Bünker of Austria as general secretary. The assembly took place from 12 to 18 September in Budapest, Hungary.
Wipf, 60, council president of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, succeeds Dr Elisabeth Parmentier of Strasbourg, France.
The executive committee also named two CPCE co-presidents: Dr Michael Beintker, director of the Seminary for Reformed Theology at the University of Munster, Germany; and Rev. Dr Stephanie Dietrich of the Oslo-based Council on Ecumenical and International Relations of the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.
From the beginning of 2007 Bünker, 52, and Oberkirchenrat of the Evangelical Church in Austria, will succeed Dr Wilhelm Hüffmeier, president of the head office of the Union of Evangelical Churches (UEK) in Berlin.
The CPCE includes 105 Lutheran, Reformed, United, Methodist, and Hussite churches in Europe and South America that have adopted the 1973 Leuenberg Agreement, which provides for pulpit and altar fellowship among the signatory churches. (192 words)
