After more than 30 years as a pastor, ecumenist and church leader, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit firmly believes that the Church can change the world. As general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for the past ten years, he has witnessed what Jesus Christ means to people of faith around the globe. On 31 March 2020, he returned back home to lead the Church of Norway as presiding bishop of its bishop’s conference.

A special farewell will be organized at the next WCC Central Committee meeting where he will present his report.

Rev. Dr Prof. Ioan Sauca (Orthodox Church of Romania) has been appointed acting WCC general secretary beginning 1 April. Sauca has served as Professor of Missiology and Ecumenical Theology at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey since 1998 and as its director since 2001. He has served as a WCC deputy general secretary since 2014. In that capacity, he oversees a variety of WCC programmes in the areas of unity, mission,  ecumenical relations, youth, interreligious dialogue and cooperation, worship and spirituality, as well as ecumenical formation.