African moderator is historic choice for WCC, elections also name Noffsinger to Central Committee

The 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches has chosen a new Central Committee to serve for the period until the next assembly is held. Among the 150 delegates selected for the Central Committee is Church of the Brethren general secretary Stan Noffsinger.

According to a WCC release, three others from the historic peace churches also have been elected to the Central Committee: Fernando Enns of the Mennonite Church in Germany, Anne Mitchell of the Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Ann Riggs of the Friends General Conference..

In an historic choice, the Central Committee has chosen its first woman and African to serve as moderator, according to another WCC release. “In one of their first decisions as the Central Committee for the World Council of Churches, the newly installed 150-member committee made history Friday by electing Dr. Agnes Abuom of Nairobi, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, as the moderator of the highest WCC governing body,” the release said. “Abuom, who was elected unanimously to the position, is the first woman and the first African in the position in the 65-year history of the WCC.”

Eight new presidents also have been chosen to represent the major areas of the globe. WCC presidents promote ecumenism and interpret the work of the WCC, especially in their respective regions. They are ex-officio members of the WCC Central Committee:

• Africa: Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa

• Asia: Sang Chang, Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea

• Europe: Anders Wejryd, archbishop in the Church of Sweden

• America and Caribbean: Gloria Nohemy Ulloa Alvarado, Presbyterian Church in Colombia

• North America: Mark MacDonald, bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada

• Pacific: Mele’ana Puloka, Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga

• Eastern Orthodox: H.B. John X Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East

• Oriental Orthodox: H.H. Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians

-- This article includes information from World Council of Churches releases. Find the full list of elected Central Committee members at www.oikoumene.org/en/about-us/organizational-structure/central-committee/NC032FINALMembersoftheCentralCommitteeasElectedbythe10thAssembly.pdf.

Source: 11/11/2013 Newsline