Norwegian elected to lead World Council of Churches

GENEVA (RNS/ENI) A Norwegian theologian was elected Thursday (Aug. 27) to lead the World Council of Churches. The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, an ordained pastor in the Church of Norway, was elected general secretary during a week-long meeting of the WCC’s Central Committee, its main governing body. Tveit, 48, is currently general secretary of the […]

GENEVA (RNS/ENI) A Norwegian theologian was elected Thursday (Aug. 27) to lead the World Council of Churches.

The Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, an ordained pastor in the Church of Norway, was elected general secretary during a week-long meeting of the WCC’s Central Committee, its main governing body.


Tveit, 48, is currently general secretary of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations. Tveit will succeed the Rev. Samuel Kobia, a Kenyan Methodist who was the first African to hold the post, who will step down at the end of the year.

The Geneva-based WCC includes 349 member churches, principally Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant denominations. The Roman Catholic Church is not an official member.

“This task I really feel is the call of God,” Tveit told the Central Committee after his election, according to a media release. “I feel that we have a lot to do together.”

Tveit was one of two candidates proposed by a search committee. Tveit beat out the Rev. Park Seong-won, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of Korea and a professor of theology at Youngnam Theological University and Seminary in Kyeongsan, South Korea.

Kobia had told the Central Committee in February 2008 that for “personal reasons” he would not seek a second term in office.

In an interview with a German newspaper before the election, Tveit said he would like to see increased contacts between the WCC and the world’s fast-growing evangelical and Pentecostal churches, and greater cooperation between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Tveit also said that the WCC needed to give greater attention to relations with Islam.

“We are so much stronger together,” Tweit told the Central Committee. “The agenda for justice and peace demands that we are one; the agenda for unity theologically implies that we care for peace, justice and the creation.”


The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the New York-based National Council of Churches, issued a statement congratulating Tveit on his election.

“This is both an exciting and challenging time to be involved in ecumenical cooperation,” Kinnamon said. “Olav can be assured of the prayerful support of his sisters and brothers in the United States and around the world. We look forward to working together with him and getting to know him better.”

— Kevin Eckstrom contributed to this report from Washington.

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