GENEVA — The World Council of Churches on Aug. 28 elected a Methodist pastor from Kenya as the next general secretary of the Geneva-based ecumenical agency.
Samuel Kobia, a member of the Methodist Church of Kenya, was elected by the 134 voting members of the WCC’s central committee. Kobia beat out the only other candidate, Trond Bakkevig of the Lutheran Church of Norway.
Kobia will assume the WCC’s top post in January, succeeding the retiring Konrad Raiser, a German pastor who has held the post for 11 years.
The WCC is a global fellowship of 342 churches from 100 countries. Founded in 1948, the WCC includes most Orthodox and mainline Protestant churches from the United States but does not include Roman Catholics or evangelical groups.
Kobia was born in 1947. He holds degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, St. Paul’s United Theological College in Kenya, McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago and Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis.
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