At the Central Committee meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC), leadership of the Council’s consultative bodies was announced. These bodies will steer through the work of the WCC in accomplishing the call from its 10th Assembly to engage in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace.” The WCC assembly was held in Busan, Republic of Korea, in the fall of 2013.
The Rev. Susan Durber from the United Reformed Church in United Kingdom is among the leaders of the WCC’s consultative bodies. She will serve as moderator of the WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order.
The Rev. Mvume Dandala of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa will serve as moderator of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, while Rudolf Eduard von Sinner of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) will lead the Commission on Ecumenical Formation as its moderator.
The WCC’s Echos Commission -- on youth in the ecumenical movement -- will be moderated by Martina Viktorie Kopecká of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church in the Czech Republic.
Archbishop and Metropolitan Nifon of Targoviste of the Romanian Orthodox Church will moderate the Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church, while Marina Kolovopoulou from the Church of Greece will moderate the Joint Consultative Group between the WCC and Pentecostal churches.
The WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism will be moderated by Metropolitan Geevarghese Mor Coorilos of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.
The WCC’s general secretary, the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, highlighted the significance of these bodies for the work of the WCC and its 345 member churches around the world. “These consultative bodies represent the wide insight, the professional wisdom and the historical commitment of the churches and the movements in the churches,” he said.
“They bring significant and substantial insights and new ideas to the WCC. The leadership of these commissions have a crucial role in the fellowship of the churches and beyond, as some have a wider membership. May God bless them with creativity and clarity,” Tveit added.
The WCC Central Committee, with its 150 members from all global regions, is responsible for carrying out the policies adopted by the WCC 10th Assembly, as well as reviewing and supervising the WCC’s programs and the budget of the Council.
The Central Committee held its full meeting July 2-8 here. They will meet again in June 2016 and approximately every two years for the next eight years.