News
The Executive Committee, a 25-member governing body of the World Council of Churches (WCC), is meeting from 13 through 18 November at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland to consider a series of programmatic reports and proposals for the criteria to be used in priority setting amid the continuing work of the WCC.
The guiding theme for the WCC since 2013, suggested by its 10th Assembly at Busan, Republic of Korea, is summarized in the assembly’s call to a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”. Documents to be discussed by the Executive Committee encourage a well-defined process to increase the integration, articulation, visibility and clarity of this theme and its realization. The WCC will continue to extend an invitation to join in pilgrimage to Christians and to all people of good will.
Highlights of the meeting will include a report from the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, a Sunday morning service of common prayer in Geneva’s ancient cathedral church of Saint-Pierre, preparation for ecumenical participation in the COP21 climate conference to be held in Paris later this month, discussion of a new WCC communication strategy, as well as celebration of a new agreement for cooperation with UNICEF in proactively defending children’s rights worldwide.
The Executive Committee will also engage in analysis and examination of the on-going programmes and projects of the council as well as patterns of finance and staffing, with an eye to suggesting adjustments in the organization’s ways of working.
Many recommendations from the Executive Committee will be received and further refined by the 150-member WCC Central Committee at its June 2016 meeting in Trondheim, Norway. The Executive Committee is elected from among the membership of the Central Committee and meets twice each year, while the larger Central Committee meets once every two years. The Central Committee is elected by the WCC Assembly at meetings held each seven to eight years.
The Executive and Central Committees are led by a moderator and two vice-moderators in collaboration with the general secretary. The current moderator is Dr Agnes Abuom from the Anglican Church of Kenya. The vice-moderators are Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Bishop Mary Ann Swenson of the US-based United Methodist Church.
For further information and interview requests please contact:
World Council of Churches: Marianne Ejdersten, Communication Director, [email protected] or +41 79 507 63 63
