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The spectrum of christian traditions Dr Minda Peranginangin, H.G. Abune Zecharias.

The spectrum of christian traditions Dr Minda Peranginangin, H.G. Abune Zecharias.

The gathering of the new WCC central committee, the 55th session since the Council was established in 1948, represents a diverse and colourful cross-section of the Christian world. Young pastors and lay people sit alongside venerable archbishops and monks, all appointed to represent their churches and serve for the coming seven years on the WCC's main governing body.

No less than sixteen church families from the whole spectrum of Christian traditions are represented among the members of the central committee, ranging from African Instituted churches to Pentecostal and United churches, and including Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Old Catholic churches. The Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches together have 38 representatives, representing 26% of the total committee membership.

The new 150-person central committee counts 63 women (42%), 22 youth (15%), and six indigenous persons (4%). 97 members of the committee are ordained (65%).

Members come from dozens of countries from all world regions. 48 members are from European churches, 29 from African churches and 27 from Asian churches. North America (22 seats), the Middle East (10 seats) and Latin America (6 seats) are also represented. There are five delegates of churches from the Pacific region.

Over 50 other churches, agencies and ecumenical councils are also participating as observers or advisors in the event. The Roman Catholic Church, which is not a member church of the WCC, has two official delegated observers.

The central committee was elected at the WCC's 9th Assembly in February 2006, where a nominations committee worked with a pool of names put forward by the WCC's 348 member churches. The 25-person executive committee, a moderator and two vice-moderators were then elected by the central committee from among its membership. The central committee meets every 18 months, and is scheduled to hold its next session in early 2008.