The WCC central committee

The WCC central committee meets for the first time since it was elected last February by the 9th Assembly of the WCC in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Its main tasks will be to decide on programme plans and a renewed organizational structure for the Council, as well as to appoint a series of advisory bodies.   

The committee is expected to consider a number of issues, including just trade, the plight of children in conflict situations in Africa (with particular focus on Northern Uganda), HIV/AIDS and the current crisis in the Middle East.   

At the meeting, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) will play the role of moderator for the first time since his election by the committee immediately after the Assembly.   

Elected from a pool of names put forward by the WCC's 348 member churches, the committee counts 63 women (42%), 22 youth (15%), and six indigenous persons (4%). 97 members of the committee are ordained (65%).   

In the early part of the meeting and again towards its close, testimonies on what it means to live within a Christian community in pluralistic societies will enable committee members to gain insights into each others' contexts and concerns.   

The meeting will take place under the leadership of the new moderator, and that of new vice moderators Metropolitan Dr Gennadios of Sassima (Limouris) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Rev. Dr Margaretha Hendriks-Ririmasse of the Protestant Church in the Moluccas.

During the 30 August-6 September meeting, a public event on 4 September and a consultation on 5-6 September on the theme "Acting together for transformation" will commemorate the 40th anniversary of a landmark 1966 WCC World Conference on Church and Society. 

The special event and consultation will consider the 1966 conference's relevance today in relation to the WCC's AGAPE (Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth) process, look at new and urgent challenges not perceived in 1966, and clarify how tensions between Northern and Southern perspectives at that time may have evolved, or even sharpened, since then. 

WCC central committee

The central committee is elected by the assembly from among its delegates and serves as the chief governing body of the WCC until the next assembly, meeting every 12 to 18 months. It is responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the assembly, reviewing and supervising WCC programmes and adopting the budget of the Council. The assembly elects the presidents of the WCC, who serve as members of the central committee. The executive committee (including the officers) is elected by the central committee and normally meets twice a year. The general secretary serves ex officio as secretary of the central and executive committees.

List of Central Committee members

Presidents

His Holiness Abune Paulos, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Rev. Prof. Dr Simon Dossou, Protestant Methodist Church in Benin

Rev. Dr Soritua Nababan, Protestant Christian Batak Church (Indonesia)

Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega, Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba

Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, United Church of Christ (USA)

Mr John Taroanui Doom, Maòhi Protestant Church (Tahiti)

Archbishop Dr Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania, Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania

Dr Mary Tanner, Church of England

Officers

Moderator: Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB)

Vice-moderator: Metropolitan Dr Gennadios of Sassima (Limouris), Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Vice-moderator: Rev. Dr Margaretha Hendriks-Ririmasse, Protestant Church in the Moluccas

General secretary: Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, Methodist Church in Kenya

The WCC executive committee
is made up of the following central committee members:

Africa:

Bishop Ivan Manuel Abrahams Methodist Church of Southern Africa (South Africa)

Dr Agnes Abuom Anglican Church of Kenya

Pastor Antonio Pedro Malungo Evangelical Reformed Church of Angola

Ms Iyabo Oyekola Church of the Lord Aladura Worldwide (Nigeria)

Asia:

Bishop Samuel R. Azariah Church of Pakistan

Rev. Dr Margaretha M. Hendriks-Ririmasse Protestant Church in the Moluccas (Indonesia)

Ms Hae-Sun Jung Korean Methodist Church

Caribbean:

Ms Nerissa Celestine Church in the Province of the West Indies (Grenada)

Europe:

Ms Inger Aasa-Marklund Church of Sweden

Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Bishop Dr Hilarion of Vienna and Austria Russian Orthodox Church

Bishop Dr Rolf Koppe Evangelical Church in Germany

Mr Graham G. McGeoch Church of Scotland

Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste Romanian Orthodox Church

Bishop Dr Vasilios of Trimithus Church of Cyprus

Ms Outi Vasko Orthodox Church of Finland

Latin America:

Rev. Dr Walter Altmann Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil

Middle East:

Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette Coptic Orthodox Church (Egypt)

Ms Carmen Rae Lansdowne UNorth America: nited Church of Canada

Rev. Dr Larry Pickens United Methodist Church (USA)

Rev. Dr Tyrone Pitts Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (USA)

Bishop Vicken Aykazian Armenian Apostolic Church (Holy See of Etchmiadzin) (USA)

Pacific:

The Church of Ethiopia Past and Present