World Council of Churches delegates announced at CoGS

Mississauga, Ont.-The Council of General Synod (CoGS) has chosen a youth coordinator and a priest to represent the Anglican Church of Canada at the 10^th World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly. The assembly is scheduled to take place Oct. 30 to Nov. 8, 2013, in Busan, South Korea.

Melissa Green, youth coordinator of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Kamloops, B.C. (Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior/APCI), and the Rev. Canon John Steele, rector of St. Dunstan’s Anglican church (diocese of British Columbia) were elected at the spring meeting of CoGS held here May 24-27.

“It’s an honour to represent our church. I’m extremely excited,” said Green, who is a member of CoGS, in an interview. “This will be a new experience for me – one that will be filled with many blessings, much learning and probably a few challenges along the way.”

Green has served the Anglican church at the diocesan, provincial and national levels, with a particular focus on youth ministry. She has overseen youth conferences as well as the summer youth staff team and the children and youth program at Sorrento Centre, an Anglican-operated retreat and conference centre in Sorrento, B.C. Green has also developed a working relationship with her Lutheran counterparts in Kamloops.

Green is currently completing a bachelor of arts degree at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and hopes to pursue a Masters in Divinity.

Steele, who was the Canadian Anglican delegate to the 2006 WCC Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, also has served the church at the parish, diocesan, national and international level. He is a member of the WCC Central Committee and has represented the church in the Canadian Council of Churches Governing Board. As a member of the Partners in Mission committee of General Synod, he has visited church partners in Jamaica and Cuba.

Founded in 1948, the WCC has 349 member churches, denominations and fellowships representing over 560 million Christians in over 110 countries.