Ositelu emerges WCC President for African region

The World Council of Churches, General Assembly, has elected Nigeria’s Primate of the Church of the Lord Worldwide, Dr. Rufus Okikiola Ositelu, as its president for the African region. Ositelu’s election took place at the eleventh WCC General Assembly held on September 5, 2022, in Karlsruhe Germany.

With theme: “Christ Love Moves The World To Reconciliation And Unity,” this year’s general assembly ran between August 31, 2022 and September 8, 2022.

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 WCC President for 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, was the former Vice President of the Christian Council of Nigeria. He also served as a member of the WCC’s central committee, which is the highest decision-making body of the council.

Presidents were also elected for other regions such as Asia, 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.

Recall 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.

Ositelu became the Primate of the church in 1998 and has introduced a lot of reforms and innovations to the church.