The National Council of Churches (NCC) installed the Rev. Peg Chemberlin as its 25th president on Thursday during the close of the organization's General Assembly meeting.

An ordained minister in the Moravian Church of America-North, Chemberlin previously served as executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches for 14 years.

In 2009, Chemberlin was appointed to President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, where she serves on the task force focused on economic recovery and fighting poverty.

"The National Council of Churches will be blessed by the leadership of the Rev. Peg Chemberlin, a woman whose very soul is filled with ecumenical passion and whose adult life has been invested in building bridges and relationship within the Christian Church, and in interfaith circles, as well," said The Rt. Rev. James L. Jelinek, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota in a statement. "She is both a professional and a volunteer, with the gift of leadership and the gift of inspiration."

Also offering congratulations was Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican, who visited the assembly meeting on Wednesday.

"We'll be cheering you on as you take over the reigns of this organization," Pawlenty told Chemberlin. "We know you'll lead it as you always do, with diligence, and we're proud of you."

Installed alongside Chemberlin at the Thursday ceremony was NCC President-Elect Kathryn Lohre, a 32-year-old student supervisor at Harvard and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). Lohre will be the fifth woman and second youngest person to hold the NCC presidency after her scheduled 2011 installation.

The joyous ceremony brought closure to the three-day 2009 General Assembly of the NCC and Church World Service (CWS), which addressed several challenging national and world issues while retaining a theme based on 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 of, "Rejoice Always, Pray without ceasing, Give thanks in all circumstances."

In the gathering's keynote speech on Nov. 10, professor Dr. Margaret Aymer defended the gathering's theme saying that Christians' joy, "rests not in our human ability to change the grief of the present, but in our steadfast hope in the One who holds the future."

Aymer called the assembly to hold onto an 'uncommon sense,' which she says beckons Christians to, "Rejoice constantly, not because there is not reason to mourn but because we have reason to hope … Pray unceasingly, not out of a childish fantasy of who God must be, but out of loyal decision to follow the God who will be …. Give thanks in all things, not because of what we can do, but out of an honest assessment of all of the things that we cannot do without the Triune God."

Aymer's message hit home as the gathering went on to address controversial issues ranging from national health care, fire arms control, the Global Securities bill, and the shootings at Fort Hood - an incident the assembly noted in particular as being "singularly and deeply pained" by.

"During extreme crises, we rightly seek both reasons for their occurrence and justice for the alleviation of their pain," the assembly statement read.

Continuing on in the spirit of the gathering, however, the statement went on to encourage, "all Christians and religious communities of good will to reach out to one another through personal dialogue, local awareness building, national advocacy advancements, and other means of fostering relationships of trust and mutuality," in spite of the incident.

"These are the uncommon responses in the present that will help to shape our collective tomorrow," it read.