ELCA NEWS SERVICE

October 26, 2009

Martin Junge Named General Secretary of Lutheran World Federation
09-234-FI/LWI*

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council
elected the Rev. Martin Junge on Oct. 26 to a seven-year term as the
eighth LWF General Secretary. The former president of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Chile (Iglesia Evangelica Luterana en Chile - IELC)
becomes the first general secretary from the Latin America and Caribbean
region.
     At the end of October 2010, Junge, 48, will succeed the Rev. Ishmael
Noko, who became the first African to serve as LWF General Secretary in
June 1994. Noko, a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe,
was affirmed as general secretary in 1997 and re-elected in 2004.
     Junge studied Protestant theology between 1980 and 1986 at the Georg
August University in Goettingen, Germany. Following his ordination in
1989, Junge served as pastor of two IELC congregations in Santiago,
Chile. In 2000 he became area secretary for Latin America and the
Caribbean in the LWF Department for Mission and Development (DMD). Since
2008 Junge has been pursuing a diploma in the management of not-for-
profit organizations at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland.
     Junge is married with two children.
     The 49-member council is meeting Oct. 22-27 in Chavannes de Bogis,
Switzerland, near Geneva. The council is the LWF's governing body,
meeting every 12-18 months between assemblies, which are held every six
years. The current council was appointed at the LWF's Tenth Assembly in
2003.
     LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition, representing 68.5 million members in 79 countries. Its
secretariat is located in Geneva.
     The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is one of the
LWF's 140 member churches. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson serves as both ELCA
presiding bishop and LWF president. As president, Hanson chairs the LWF
council.
     According to Lutheran World Information, the LWF's information
service, the council intended to vote Oct. 22 on the election of a new
general secretary. Hanson reported Oct. 23 that the governing body asked
its search committee "to make every effort to bring an additional name of
a candidate" for consideration. "This in no way reflects on the quality
of the search committee's report," he said.
     About 75 representatives from LWF member churches and partner
organizations are attending the meeting. Another 90 participants include
invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, media and LWF
staff.
     The LWF general secretary conducts the day-to-day business of the
federation in collaboration with the cabinet, which is made up of the
directors of departments and units appointed by the council. She or he is
responsible for the implementation of LWF assembly and council decisions.
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     Information about the Lutheran World Federation is at
http://www.lutheranworld.org/ on the Web.

* Lutheran World Information provided information for this report.

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