The Primate of the Church of the Lord Worldwide, Dr Rufus Ositelu, has been elected the President of the African region of the World Council of Churches.
Ositelu’s election was announced during the ongoing 11th WCC General Assembly on Monday, in Karlsruhe, Germany.
This year’s general assembly with the theme, ‘Christ Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity,’ started on August 31, 2022, and will end on Thursday.
With his election, Ositelu becomes the first African from an African-instituted church, and the first head of a church in Nigeria to occupy the position of the WCC President from Africa since it was formed in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in 1948.
Ositelu, who is the incumbent and fourth Primate of The Church of the Lord Worldwide, is the former Vice President of the Christian Council of Nigeria.
He has also served as a member of WCC’s central committee, which is the highest decision-making body of the council.
Presidents were also elected for other regions such as Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, North America, Pacific, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental orthodox.
The WCC is a fellowship of 352 churches in over 120 countries and representing over 560 million Christians all over the world. It was formed to work for the reunion of all Christian churches and to establish a united Christian presence in the world.
The PUNCH reports that the Church of the Lord was one of the first African-instituted churches to be admitted as a member of WCC about six decades ago.
