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WCC General Secretary declines re-election;
Search process begins immediately

New York, February 21, 2008 – The Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia’s decision not to seek a second term as World Council of Churches general secretary removes an “administrator with a pastoral heart” from an important position of ecumenical leadership, his U.S. counterpart said today. 

The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, was a colleague of Kobia’s when they both served on the WCC staff in Geneva in the 1980s. 

Kobia, announced at the February 13-20 central committee meeting that he would not seek an extension to his term, which ends December 31.

“I have known Sam for years and his contributions to ecumenism go much farther back than his term as WCC general secretary,” Kinnamon said. “He projects a strong image of Africa and African churches wherever he goes. In the past five years in particular, he has traveled the globe to meet with churches that have wide differences in history and culture, and he lovingly sought to bring them together under the central message of the Gospel.” 

Kinnamon said Kobia’s departure from his office “will leave a big hole to fill at the WCC, but I have no doubt that he will continue to make important contributions to the ecumenical movement in which he believes so strongly.”

Search Committee Named

Presided by an African woman, with a membership that includes three youth, eight women, four Orthodox and a strong representation from the South, the search committee for a new WCC general secretary has already begun to work.  

The 18-member search committee was appointed by the WCC central committee late evening on 19 February. The committee's task is to screen candidates for the position of WCC general secretary.  

Ten of the search committee members were elected by the central committee through paper ballots. The member receiving the most votes, Dr Agnes Abuom, was appointed as its moderator. The executive committee proposed six more members under procedures designed to provide for regional, gender, church tradition and age balances. The two vice-moderators of the central committee serve as ex-officio members.

Next steps

Before Kobia ends his term as general secretary in December, an acting general secretary will be appointed by the WCC executive committee at its meeting in September 2008. The acting general secretary will assume office as from January 1, 2009 until the new general secretary elected by the WCC central committee at its meeting in September 2009 takes office, likely by the end of 2009.   

At the last session of the meeting, the moderator reiterated the heartfelt gratitude of the central committee for Kobia's services to the Council. "My commitment to the WCC and the ecumenical movement remains total", Kobia said at that session. "Ecumenism is in my blood and bones, and whatever I do next it will be a continuation of what I have done over many years", he added.

 

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228, NCCnews@ncccusa.org

 

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