World Council of Churches Renames Library After Former Secretary

From left, Rev. Theodore Gill, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, Rev. Dr Philip A. Potter, Rt Rev. Bärbel von Wartenberg-Potter at the ceremony in Geneva, Friday, Nov. 27. (Photo: WCC)

The World Council of Churches held a ceremony on Friday to rename its Geneva-based library after the organization's third general secretary, Philip A. Potter.

Over 70 guests attended the event to honor the 88-year-old "giant of the ecumenical movement," as current WCC general secretary the Rev. Samuel Kobia put it, whose run at the WCC's top position lasted from 1972 to 1984.

Prior positions held by the Caribbean-born Potter include his role as spokesman for youth at the WCC assemblies in 1948 and 1954, chair of the World Student Christian Federation from 1960 to 1968, and director of the WCC division of world mission and evangelism from 1967 to 1972. An avid lover of books and libraries, Potter currently resides in Germany with his wife, retired Lutheran bishop Bärbel Wartenberg-Potter.

"We give thanks to the Lord, and praise God for this gift given to the ecumenical movement, and that gift is Philip A. Potter," Kobia said during the ceremony.

Located at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, the Philip A. Potter Library consists of more than 120,000 volumes and periodicals, as well as over 20 million archived documents related to the history of the ecumenical movement.

More information can be found at the library's website at  http://library.oikoumene.org/ 

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