WCC NEWS: WCC visits Church of Norway to explore “values that unite a suffering world”

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca visited the Church of Norway on 23 November, expressing joy at being able to see the church offices for the first time and for the church’s support leading up to the WCC 11th Assembly. Photo: WCC 30 November 2021 Sauca met with Church of Norway leaders including presiding bishop Most Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit; Rev. Elise Sandnes, general secretary of the Bishop’s Council; and Berit Hagen-Agöy, director of International Affairs. “I am grateful for the hospitality and inspiration we have so warmly received from the Church of Norway leadership and staff,” said Sauca. “As we prepare for the WCC assembly, we are already witnessing the theme ‘Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.’” Sauca said the WCC’s sense of hope has been buoyed by the special support from the Church of Norway and other WCC member churches during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I deeply appreciate the dedication and accompaniment of the Church of Norway and the solidarity expressed as we walk through the world’s challenges together,” he said. Tveit said that he and other leaders from the Church of Norway were happy to inform the visitors from the WCC that the Church of Norway General Synod affirmed in a decision on 12 November its commitment to the global ecumenical movement and its involvement and financial support to the WCC. “I am impressed by how the WCC leadership and staff have been able to address the multiple challenges to their work and the need for a shift  of methodologies in the time of the pandemic,” said Tveit. “The world and the churches are, even more than before, in need of global solidarity and mutual accountability to one another, and the values that can unite a suffering and divided world.” The theme of the WCC 11th Assembly has become a prophetic message of our time, added Tveit. “The world needs the steadfast love of Christ,” he said. “The churches need the fellowship of one another to convey this love in word and acts.” Discussions centered around the role of the churches and the WCC in the midst of the pandemic, the work of the WCC and future governance—particularly amid the challenges posed by COVID-19 and the climate emergency—and assembly preparations, with special reflections on the assembly theme. Sauca, accompanied by WCC director of Communication Marianne Ejdersten, gave an update on preparations for the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2022. Ejdersten led a special session with the Church of Norway communications team and the need for support of assembly communication. The Church of Norway has agreed to support the communications team in Karlsruhe. WCC executive committee lights the way for WCC 11th Assembly (WCC press release of 26 November 2021) Learn more about the WCC Assembly See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

WCC NEWS: Church of Norway consecrates Olav Fykse Tveit as presiding bishop

In historic Nidaros Cathedral, the ancient shrine and pilgrimage destination of medieval Trondheim, the Church of Norway on Sunday, 10 May 2020, consecrated the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit as bishop of the Diocese of Nidaros and installed him as Preses or presiding bishop of its Bishops’ Conference.

In observance of restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cathedral service was held with minimal attendance but live-streamed internationally. As presiding bishop, Tveit succeeds Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien, who was the first woman to hold the post and who has led the church through the reframing of its position in national life.

At the service, Dr Tveit preached on the gospel text from John 15:1-9, on Jesus as the true vine, cultivating his disciples to bear much fruit, namely, faith, hope, and love.

“This is the church’s task in this world,” he said, “to preach and demonstrate God’s love, so that we can get the strength and will and ability to love others. It can and should demand something from us, for it concerns the most important thing of all. We can do this because we have been inserted into a relation with Christ.”

Noting the unique and tumultuous circumstances of a global pandemic while congratulating the former general secretary on his new ministry, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom and acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca voiced their prayers for Tveit and “the people’s church” that he will lead, saying, “We earnestly pray that, with your leadership, the Church of Norway will seize this time to strengthen faith, encourage participation, cultivate community, and foster dedication to the care of the people of Norway and the service of the whole human family.”

Echoing Tveit’s own hopes and their confidence in him, Abuom and Sauca said, “We look to a new birth of the church through the continued presence of the Risen Lord among us. May the Church of Norway be and become, as you have phrased it, ‘a fellowship of hope,’ a haven always safe yet never comfortable, a herald and true beacon of hope for all humanity.”

For his work in ecumenical peacemaking, Dr Tveit has received several honours, most recently just last week, when he was awarded the Dongbaek Medal of the Order of Civil Merit from the president and prime minister of the Republic of Korea for his dedicated and persistent work over ten years toward peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.

Consecration of Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, Nidaros Cathedral Sunday 10 May at 11am CET Follow online, see "Høymesse med vigsling av preses" Read the new bishop’s inaugural sermon (English) Sermon in Norwegian Read congratulations from the WCC moderator and acting general secretary WCC Photo review with quotes by Rev. Dr Tveit Video greeting from the WCC moderator See a brief history of the Church of Norway Nidaros Cathedral Learn more about the awarding of the Dongbaek Medal

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland