Officers of new global Reformed organisation elected

By Jerry Van Marter, UGC correspondent

Delegates to the Uniting General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) have elected four regional vice-presidents, a general treasurer and 16 members to its Executive Committee. The vote followed immediately on the election of the organisation's new president, Jerry Pillay of the Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.

Over 300 delegates from 108 countries are meeting in the Midwestern city of Grand Rapids in the United States from June 18-26 for the founding meeting of the new organisation which represents 80 million Christians from Presbyterian, Uniting and United, Reformed and Waldensian churches worldwide.

The president is joined on the WCRC presidium by vice-presidents Lu Yueh Wen of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Yvette Noble Bloomfield of the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Bas Plaisier of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and Helis Barraza Diaz of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, and General Treasurer Gottfried Locher of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches.

The executive committee also includes the two presidents of the organisation's predecessor bodies - the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) - and the moderators of WARC's five regional councils to form a 29-member governing body.

Of the 22 Executive Committee members elected, 14 are ordained clergy, 13 are men and two are under 30. Eighteen are previous WARC members and four were also members of REC. They come from 18 countries in all eight designated regions of the world.

"We have struggled to fulfill all the requirements in our rules within the framework of 22 positions," said Nominations Committee co-moderator Judi Fisher. "The task has been both sizable and difficult, but we believe we have done all that is possible."

No counter-nominations were proposed, but delegates to the UGC approved revised procedures to ensure that future slates proposed by regional groups to the Nominating Committee will be more flexible and balanced.

WCRC officers reflect global reach of Reformed church

President: Jerry Pillay
Minister and General Secretary of Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa and previous moderator of the church. Moderator of WARC Africa region; mediator in denominational disputes. Trustee of Council for World Missions, and chair of Strategic Planning Group

Vice President: Lu Yueh Wen
Member, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. Previous youth staff for WARC. Immediate past president, Christian Council of Asia

Vice President: Yvette Noble Bloomfield
Minister and Deputy General Secretary in the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Consultant at the WARC General Council in Debrecen. Participated in the North America and Caribbean regional meeting on communion and justice.

Vice President: Bas Plaisier
Minister in the Hague in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. Immediate past member of WARC Executive Committee. Served as a missionary in Indonesia.

Vice President: Helis Barraza Diaz
Member of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and vice principal of the Reformed University of Colombia. Immediate past vice president of WARC Executive Committee. Involvement in justice and social issues.

General Treasurer: Gottfried Locher
Minister and incoming president, Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches. Immediate past vice president of WARC Executive Committee. Mediation and reconciliation work with churches in eastern Europe.