The World Communion of Reformed Churches elected Rev. Dr Karen Georgia Thompson as its next president on Wednesday, October 22. About 400 delegates to the 27th General Council chose Thompson, who leads the United Church of Christ in the United States as its general minister and president.
The election took place in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. The WCRC includes more than 230 member churches spanning 109 countries, with a combined membership exceeding 100 million Christians.
“To elect a woman as president is a continuation of our seriousness regarding empowering women in leadership and lifting this leadership to the world,” said the WCRC’s outgoing president, Rev. Najla Kassab.
The Council, running from 14 to 23 October under the theme “Persevere in Your Witness,” celebrates the WCRC’s 150th anniversary. The Church of Christ in Thailand is hosting the gathering for the first time.
The organization’s history dates to 1875 with the establishment of the Alliance of Reformed Churches. Through successive unions (first forming the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in 1970 through merger with Congregational and other Reformed bodies, then joining with the Reformed Ecumenical Council in 2010) the modern WCRC emerged. Its General Council meets every seven years as the denomination’s supreme governing authority.
Thompson, a Jamaican-born theologian, brings extensive ecumenical experience to the role. She has served on the World Council of Churches’ executive committee and central committee, and has been active in global Reformed circles for many years.
Thompson’s election to the WCRC presidency follows her historic election in July 2023 as the first woman to lead the United Church of Christ. At the UCC’s 34th General Synod in Indianapolis, she became the denomination’s first female general minister and president, as well as the third person of African descent to lead the denomination. She was the third woman nominated for the UCC post, after Rev. Yvonne Delk in 1989 and Rev. Barbara Brown Zikmund in 1999, but the first to be elected.
Delegates also elected five vice presidents: Rt. Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, Kar Hor Lim of Gereja Presbyterian Malaysia, Rev. Martina Wasserloos of the Reformed Alliance in Germany, Raissa Vieira Brasil of the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil, and Johann Wieusmann of the Evangelical Church in the Rhinelands in Germany, who also serves as the WCRC’s general treasurer.
In addition, 17 people were elected to the Executive Committee, drawing from Reformed churches across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The slate includes representatives from the Presbyterian Church in East Africa, Dutch Reformed Church, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, United Church of Zambia, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, and several other denominations.
Three members of the Executive Committee were re-elected: Vieira Brasil, Tibonge Ng’ambi from the United Church of Zambia, and Rev. Milciades Pua Gomez from the Presbyterian Church of Colombia.
The newly elected leadership reflects the WCRC’s commitment to diversity and youth participation. The full slate includes 12 women and 10 men, three youth, nine lay people and 13 ordained leaders representing all regions.
“The election presents a movement forward toward justice, where seven of the younger generation are now part of the Executive Committee,” Kassab said. “Three are under 30, and four are between 30 and 40.”
Thompson holds a doctorate in ministry from Seattle University, a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a master of public administration degree from North Carolina Central University. Her academic work has focused on religious multiplicity among African Caribbean communities.
Article image obtained from here.
