Kathy J. Magnus, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Regional Officer for North America, announced today that she will be leaving the position at the end of this year and taking an early retirement.
Magnus has served in the position since January 2002 and during her six years of service with the LWF, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Magnus has come to know Canada and the ELCIC. As an advisor to the ELCIC National Church Council, Magnus attended both fall and spring meetings each year and participated in ELCIC National Conventions, attended the Canadian Lutheran Youth Gatherings and has presented at conventions of both the Eastern and Saskatchewan synods.
"Kathy Magnus has been a true friend of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and a wonderful connection for this church with the rest of the Lutheran communion," said Rev. Paul Johnson, ELCIC Assistant to the Bishop for Ecumenical Relations, after receiving the news of Magnus’ early retirement. "Although she is a member of the ELCA, in her position as Regional Officer for the Lutheran World Federation North America she has always been deeply committed to the full participation of the ELCIC in the life of the LWF, both in the Region and in the whole Federation. She has been a gracious and informative presence at many, many ELCIC events, including regular attendance at National Church Council. "
Johnson noted, "She will be sorely missed, not only in Geneva and Chicago, but in Winnipeg and all across Canada. We give thanks to God for the gifts she has shared so freely with us over the past years, and wish her God’s richest blessings for the future."
Magnus works out of the ELCA offices located at The Lutheran Center in Chicago and serves the LWF member churches in North America by building connections between and among the churches and connecting the North American churches to the global Lutheran family.
“It has been a great joy and an incredible opportunity to serve on the LWF staff for these past six years,” Magnus says. “I have had the opportunity to see the church at work in so many places and share the powerful stories of our shared mission and ministry with the North American churches. I have been welcomed as a member of the family by the ELCIC and am deeply grateful for the friends and colleagues that have shared in this journey!”
A lay person, Magnus previously served as the vice president of the ELCA, on staff of the ELCA Global Mission Unit and as an assistant to the bishop in the Rocky Mountain Synod (Denver). Magnus is married to Rev. Richard A. Magnus, Executive Director for the ELCA Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit, and together they have two adult children and three grandchildren.
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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is Canada’s largest Lutheran denomination with 174,555 baptized members in 620 congregations. It is a member of the Lutheran World Federation, the Canadian Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches.
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