Ninth Assembly will be in Porto Alegre

The Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will be in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in 2006, the Central Committee decided Monday (2 September).

The delegates made their decision by paper ballot after a recommending committee split three ways on possible venues. Churches in Korea and Cyprus also invited the Council to hold its assembly in Seoul and Nicosia.

According to the Rev. Inamar Corrêa de Souza (Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil), the churches of Porto Alegre have a strong ecumenical commitment and work closely with the Roman Catholic Church and Pentecostals.

The invitation to Porto Alegre came from the National Council of Churches in Brazil (CONIC) in Brasilia. The WCC has never held an assembly in Latin America.

A site visit by WCC consultant Gordon How affirmed that the city has ample infrastructure to support and house a meeting that will be attended by as many as 3,500 people from around the world. Porto Alegre was the least expensive of the three cities under consideration.

The precise meeting date for the 2006 meeting will be decided later.