The Rev. Dr Sam Kobia, currently WCC special representative for Africa, has been elected as the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Kobia will succeed Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, and will take office in January 2004.

The election took place during a closed session of the WCC Central Committee in which the 134 voting members considered two candidates presented by the search committee: Kobia and the Rev. Canon Dr Trond Bakkevig.

In announcing the result, the Moderator of the Central Committee, H. H. Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia expressed "thanks to our common Lord" for his guidance in this important decision. He stressed that it was a very smooth, responsible and serious process and not a choice in the strict sense of the word.

Speaking to Dr Kobia, he said: "I am sure that you will accept this call, which we believe is from God, to serve the ecumenical cause". He also expressed deep appreciation to Dr Bakkevig for his commitment to the WCC and the ecumenical movement.

Thanking the Committee for its confidence in him, Kobia said, "To gain the capacity to inspire the world we need inner strength. Our strength lies also in our unity. As we reiterate that the WCC is first and foremost a fellowship of churches whose primary purpose is to call one another to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, and 'to advance that unity so that the world may believe', we must work together and be seen to be working together."

He concluded with an African saying: "If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to go far, walk together with others".

Born in 1947, Kobia is from Kenya, and is an ordained minister in the Methodist Church in Kenya. He has degrees and diplomas from institutions in Kenya and the USA. He is married to Ruth, and they have two daughters and two sons.

Kobia has wide ecumenical experience. He has served as WCC executive secretary for Urban Rural Mission, and as general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. He helped reorganise the Zimbabwe Christian Council after independence, chaired peace talks for Sudan in 1991, and in 1992 chaired Kenya's National Election Monitoring Unit. He returned to Geneva in 1993 to become executive director of the WCC's Justice, Peace and Creation unit.

He is the author of books dealing with social and theological issues in Kenya and on the future of Africa.