General Secretary of WCC visits Belfast
The Revd Dr Samuel Kobia, the World Council of Churches General Secretary, recently completed a 14 day tour of the UK and Ireland at the invitation of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Dr Kobia visited Belfast on Tuesday 1st May and met staff and students at Edgehill Theological College, as well as preaching at their regular service of worship. Bishop Harold Miller was amongst the Belfast church leaders and ecumenical officers who were invited to attend a lunchtime meeting at the college to meet with Dr Kobia
Later in the afternoon the WCC General Secretary as taken on a conducted tour of Belfast before taking part in a lecture on "Prisoner abuse: from Adu Ghraib to the passion of Christ" at ISE in Belfast.
Born in Kenya in 1947 Dr Kobia was elected General Secretary of the WCC in August 2003, taking up his post in January 2004. He is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church in Kenya and is married with two sons and two daughters. He is the author of several books, his most recent ‘Called to the One Hope' was published in 2006.
The Church of Ireland is one of 12 member churches of the WCC; Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) is one of four ecumenical partner organisations. The WCC includes 340 member churches, denominations and church fellowships in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing some 550 million Christians.