News
Marianne Ejdersten has recently been appointed as director for Communication at the World Council of Churches (WCC). Coming from the Church of Sweden, Ejdersten holds more than twenty years of professional experience in the fields of communication, media, marketing, fundraising and management, both with the churches and international ecumenical organizations.
“We warmly welcome Marianne Ejdersten as she begins working for this particular ministry – the field of communications, which is integral to the visibility of the work of the WCC and its member churches,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the WCC general secretary.
Educated at the IHM Business School in Stockholm in Strategic Business and Corporate Communication, Ejdersten has previously worked as a communicator in diverse capacities for the Church of Sweden, Conference of European Churches, the Church of Sweden ACT Alliance and the Swedish Bible Society. At the WCC, she previously worked as the WCC’s communication liaison for Europe.
“Marianne is an experienced and well qualified manager and communicator. We pray for her as she takes on the important task of serving the Council through her communication skills,” Tveit said.
Ejdersten has authored a number of articles published in several church publications, including the International Review of Mission. She was co-author of The Churches and IT, a publication of the Church of Sweden and a special report titled Women and Internet.
“The World Council of Churches must identify its role in the communication landscape. I would like the World Council of Churches to have the best possible support for communication,” said Ejdersten. “The world’s churches have high expectations of us. We can use our resources in a better way – because we need to change the world! To achieve this, communication needs to be seen as an integral part of how we work as a global fellowship of the churches,” she added.
Ejdersten and her team were honoured with the Grand Prix and Gold EPICA 2009 award for conducting the best integrated and interactive campaign in Europe, as well as the Swedish Publishing Award for reporting in 2012, among other honours she has received for her work in the field of media.
Ejdersten is currently president of the Swedish Fellowship of Reconciliation (SweFOR) and she will be the vice chair for the European branch of the Word Association for Christian Communication 2015.
Ejdersten will take up her position as the WCC director of Communication in the beginning of 2015. She will be based in Geneva, Switzerland, where the WCC central offices are located.
