27 October 2017 Douglas Leonard, from the Reformed Church in America (RCA), was announced as the new coordinator of the Ecumenical United Nations Office (EUNO), a joint working space of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance, in New York. Most recently, the 49-year-old ordained clergy was serving as director of RCA’s Global Mission. Speaking on the expectations about the new role, Leonard said that he will “seek to provide a resource to the member churches of the WCC where together we can coordinate our shared advocacy", he said. “Every major movement for social improvement in recent history has drawn inspirational and human resources from the churches”, pointed Leonard, who has also been serving asthe director of an ecumenical center in the Sultanate of Oman, helping to organize the Arabian Gulf fellowship of churches. Welcoming the new staff member, the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, expressed hope that the EUNO continues “to serve to echo the call to action of the ecumenical fellowship, promoting peace building, reconciliation, human rights, peaceful resistance to violence, and sustainable development”, said Tveit. Leonard succeeds Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, who serves as general secretary of ACT Alliance since June. He will work in close collaboration with the staff of the WCC’s Public Witness and Diakonia and Just Community of Women and Men teams in Geneva. Starting on 4 December, in New York, Leonard will work together with Jillian Abballe, WCC’s advocacy officer at the EUNO. Housed at the Church Center for the United Nations, the EUNO plays a key role in convening and facilitating advocacy at different levels and building joint ecumenical strategies on priority issues. Learn more about the EUNO Reformed Church in America |