Samuel Kobia Elected WCC General Secretary
A Time of Transition for the Ecumenical Movement

by Theo Gill

On August 28, 2003, the central committee of the World Council of Churches chose Samuel Kobia, a Methodist minister from Kenya, to be the Council's sixth general secretary. Kobia is the first African to serve in this position. He will succeed Konrad Raiser, a Lutheran pastor and professor from Germany, who is to retire on December 31st following nearly eleven years in office. The year-long search process leading to Kobia's election was guided by an 18-member committee chaired by Maake Masango, a Presbyterian from South Africa, and co-moderated by Marion Best of the United Church of Canada. Cliff Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the PC(USA) General Assembly, was a search committee member.
The central committee was presented two candidates: the Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, a former general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Kenya who has served since 1993 on the WCC senior staff in Geneva, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Trond Bakkevig of the Church of Norway (Lutheran). Bakkevig is a pastor from Oslo who represents the national church on the WCC central committee and moderates its committee on public issues. The 134 voting members of the central committee debated and made their choice in closed session.

In his acceptance speech, Kobia paid tribute to Konrad Raiser's "strong and insightful leadership through very difficult times." Raiser's stewardship of the Council required skill, wisdom, and patience, as well as knowledge and experience from his years as a professor of ecumenics. Throughout Raiser's tenure at the Council, fundamental questions were raised concerning Orthodox participation in the WCC, the common understanding and vision of member churches, the Council's capacity to respond to issues of violence, injustice, poverty, disease, and environmental degradation, as well as the WCC's long-term financial viability.

Kobia gave an indication of his priorities: "Our diversity is our strength. That is why we must safeguard the multilateral space that the WCC provides for churches around the world. This is a unique multilateral space that brings people from churches of different traditions and histories together in a way that no other organization in the world can."

He continued, "Our strength also lies in our unity. As we reiterate that the WCC is first and foremost a fellowship of churches whose primary purpose is to call one another to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, and 'to advance to that unity so that the world may believe,' we must work together and be seen to be working together."

As someone who has done extensive staff work in the areas of justice, peace, and dialogue, Kobia described his vision for the WCC's continuing interaction with humanity: "The challenge the world is facing today is how to relate as human beings and not just as consumers and sellers, or as powerful and powerless. The historical injustices of preceding centuries have come back to haunt us in the 21st century. Unless and until these underlying historical injustices are resolved, it will be difficult for everyone to feel safe in this world. As a council of churches, we commit ourselves to advocate for nonviolent ways of attaining justice, peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation." Among specific programs in these areas, the Council will continue to emphasize primary themes identified at the most recent WCC assembly in 1998: the nature of the church, acting to overcome violence, inter-religious dialogue, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and a special focus on Africa.

In terms of the WCC's financial difficulties, Kobia said, "Friends, you all know that, in the last seven years, the Council's income has steadily declined - dropping from 82.4 million Swiss francs (approx. $58.8 million) in 1996 to 44.1 million (approx. $31.5 million) in 2002. As I have already said in 2003, the report of the finance committee of this central committee has shown that our income is now holding steady. We will spare no efforts to ensure that this trend advances to maturity. The Council's dire financial situation, as the general secretary and colleagues will agree, became a source of great anxiety and emotional stress for all of us." Kobia went on to outline a plan for financial stability through the next WCC assembly in 2006, incorporating engagement with major funding partners and the creation of an endowment to support the core work of the Council.

It may be observed that, "dire" though the WCC's circumstances have been of late, there have been even more challenging moments in the fiscal history of ecumenism. Willem Visser 't Hooft, who became the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches in 1948, wrote in his memoirs that during one of the years when he directed the World Student Christian Federation, 1934-35, he may have been the only full-time employee of the global ecumenical movement. In January 2004, as the sixth general secretary takes office, it would be difficult to calculate total ecumenical staff worldwide. Consider the number of full-time professionals in church relations offices, metropolitan confederations, state conferences, national bodies, regional alliances, confessional communions, pontifical secretariats, specialized ministries, interchurch agencies, interfaith initiatives, action coalitions, faith-based non-governmental organizations, and international fellowships including the World Council itself. To this sum, add the myriad part-time workers and volunteers. January 2004 may be the date in question. But are we really experiencing an "ecumenical winter"?

It is, in part, the proliferation of ecumenical organizations at every level that explains cultural and economic strains on aging ecumenical institutions like the WCC. In 1948, the World Council of Churches, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Federal Council of Churches in the USA were dominant forces that captured media attention and public consciousness. Visser 't Hooft appeared on the cover of TIME magazine; President Eisenhower's address to the WCC's Second Assembly in Evanston was banner news. Today, Americans' ecumenical and interfaith commitments tend to be focused locally. While they are as important and necessary as ever, global expressions of Christian unity do not have the high profile they once had. At the same time, each church's monetary contribution is being spread over many times more ecumenical groups than existed in the 1940s or 1950s.

Konrad Raiser, in what was essentially a farewell report to the central committee, noted contemporary realities that impinge on institutional directions. He called for a new round of discussion with partner organizations and churches outside the membership of the WCC. The aim is what Raiser calls "reconfiguring the ecumenical movement" in order "to strengthen its capacity to move the Christian community worldwide to a common witness and service in the world for the 21st century. The ecumenical movement is not an end in itself but responds to a common calling that arises from God's will to create a new human community in Christ. Responding to this call is not an option among others, but constitutes a gospel imperative."

Invitations have been issued for a broad-based introductory meeting in Lebanon to explore possibilities for the reconfiguration of institutions dedicated to Christian unity. This will take place in late November 2003. The WCC also looks forward to its Ninth Assembly at Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February 2006. This will provide an occasion for further such discussion involving representatives of the WCC's 342 member churches.
One source providing readers an indication of Samuel Kobia's vision and concern as he approaches his new assignment is the recent book The Courage to Hope. It is a product of Kobia's work supporting the WCC's special program emphasis on Africa. In the preface, he writes, "The church in her calling to be a custodian of justice and peace, with her enormous social capital and capacity, must speak in unison. She must lead by example and accompany the poor and the weak in love and truth."

And in his acceptance speech following election as general secretary, Kobia concluded with this African saying: "'If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to go far, walk with others.' My prayer is that in this ecumenical movement we shall go very far, walking together, strengthening each other to fulfill the prayer of our Lord - that all may be one - to the glory of the Triune God."

Theo Gill is a member of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery who serves in Geneva, Switzerland as senior editor for the World Council of Churches.

For further reading:

Samuel Kobia, The Courage to Hope: The Roots for a New Vision and the Calling of the Church in Africa, WCC Publications, 2003.
Nicholas Lossky, Pauline Webb, et al., Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement 2nd ed., WCC Publications, 2002.
Konrad Raiser, For a Culture of Life: Transforming Globalization and Violence, WCC Publications, 2002.
Marlin VanElderen and Martin Conway, Introducing the World Council of Churches, WCC Publications, rev. 2001.
W.A. Visser 't Hooft, Memoirs, Westminster Press, 1973.
"WCC Central Committee," in Ecumenical Review 55.4 (October 2003).
WCC documents and news releases, World Council of Churches website: www.wcc-coe.com