23.10.2009
LWF Council Delays Election of Next General Secretary
LWI Council Press Release No. 02/2009Search Committee Asked to Bring Additional Name for Consideration
GENEVA, 23 October 2009 (LWI) - The Council of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has decided to delay voting on the election of a new general secretary for the LWF, which was scheduled for 22 October.
However, the vote on the next general secretary will still happen during this Council meeting, which continues until 27 October. The LWF governing body meeting is taking place at Chavannes-de-Bogis near Geneva, Switzerland.
Reporting today on the outcome of a closed executive session of the Council, LWF President Bishop Mark S. Hanson said the LWF governing body had also requested the Search Committee "to make every effort to bring an additional name of a candidate" for consideration. "This in no way reflects on the quality of the search committee's report," said Hanson.
Discussion on the general secretary's election and the report by the search committee, headed by former president of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Rev. Iteffa Gobena, took place in a closed session of the Council. The seven-member search committee comprises representatives from all the LWF's regions.
The current general secretary Zimbabwean pastor Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko was elected in June 1994, becoming the first African to hold the LWF's chief executive position. The Council reaffirmed his election in 1997, and he was re-elected for a second seven-year term in 2004. At the June 2008 Council meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, Noko announced that he would be leaving office on 31 October 2010.
The LWF General Secretary conducts the business of the Federation in collaboration with the Cabinet, which is made up of the directors of departments and units appointed by the Council. The position holder is responsible for the implementation of the Council and Assembly decisions. (310 words)
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Around 75 representatives from LWF member churches and partner organizations are attending this year's Council meeting at Chavannes de Bogis near Geneva, Switzerland. An additional 90 registered participants include invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, media persons and LWF staff.
The 49-member Council is the LWF's governing body, meeting every 12-18 months between Assemblies held every six years. The current Council was appointed at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It comprises the President, Treasurer as well as lay and ordained persons, representing the different LWF regions.
The Council host church, the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein has 6,818 members, and has been an LWF member church since 1979. It is headed by Ms Dagmar Magold.
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