The Council

The Council of the UEM advises and supervises the work of the Management Team. It also prepares the General Assembly. The Council consists of 14 delegates to the General Assembly: the moderator, a youth representative and 4 delegates from each region. In addition, there are two advisors. The council meets twice a year under the chair of the moderator.

66 delegates from the 39 members of the United Evangelical Mission elected in the plenary of the General Assembly in Villigst, Westphalia in 2022, Tanzanian theologian Dr. Abednego Keshomshahara as Moderator. Keshomshahara is head of the Northwest Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. During his PhD studies in Germany from 2003 to 2008 he already got to know the UEM through its scholarship program. He has been a member of the UEM Council since 2016. 

In addition, the General Assembly elected four representatives each from Africa, Asia and Germany as well as one youth delegate to the fourteen-member UEM Council from among the delegates present. The selection of candidates for the international governing body took into account a balanced gender ratio and ratio of lay people and theologians.

The Africa region will be represented on the UEM Council by the following persons:

• Mrs. Henriette Malinyota from the Baptist Church of Central Africa (CBCA) in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• Mrs. Vuyokazi Christine Vinqi from the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in South Africa
• Bishop Mothusi Letlhage from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana (ELCB) 
• Bishop Gehaz Alex Malasusa from the Eastern Coast Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT-ECD)
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Elected from the Asia region were:

• Rev. Simpon Ferdinant Lion from the Evangelical Church of Kalimantan (GKE) in Indonesia
• Mrs. Fransina Yoteni from the Evangelical Church of West Papua (GKI-TP)
• Ephorus Robin Butarbutar from the Toba Batak Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia (HKBP)
• Bishop William P. Ebenezer Joseph from the Methodist Church in Sri Lanka (MC-SL)

The German region will be represented by

• Oberkirchenrätin Dr. Wibke Janssen from the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland (EKiR)
• Ms. Annette Salomo from the Evangelical Church of Westphalia (EKvW)
• Rev. Thomas Fender from the Evangelical Reformed Church (ErK)
• Rev. Bernd Müller from the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW)

The Youth from the three UEM regions will be represented on the board by

Vicar Mikhael Sihotang from the  Toba Batak Christian Protestant Church in Indonesia (HKBP) in Indonesia

In addition, Mrs. Salomo, Bishop Letlhage and Ephorus Butarbutar were also elected by the delegates as Vice-Moderators.