On Sunday April 9 2000, in Geneva's St Pierre cathedral, Rev Dr Setri Nyomi of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, became the first non-European to be installed as general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

Acknowledging the new responsibilities he had been given, Dr Nyomi offered thanks in advance to the Reformed family "for all that we will do together to make a difference in a world which is so much in need of transformation."

"Our Reformed parents had a vision of a dynamic reformation," he said. "Even in the 16th century, our forbears envisaged a dynamic relationship with people of every age and cultural reality."

In his first sermon as general secretary, Dr Nyomi told the cathedral congregation that God was calling and shaping an Alliance which would truly be a servant community, working for increased justice in poor communities leading to peace. God was calling and shaping an Alliance which, like salt in food, made a difference wherever it was found. God was calling and shaping an Alliance which was not afraid to make such a difference that its light was seen.

"The ways in which continued reformation takes place include our response to challenges and realities in our communities," Dr Nyomi said. "Let us be God's instruments for making a difference in our communities and in a world which is in need of transformation."

In his exhortation to the new general secretary, the Alliance's president, Prof. CS Song of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, read a poem he had written specially for the occasion.

"For you, Setri Nyomi," he said, "this day is the future - a future that inspires you to dream new dreams in the midst of old..."

For the Alliance too, Prof. Song emphasized, the day was also the future - a future heavy with 125 years of history, a future in which it was called always to swim against the tide of conventional ecumenism.

The cathedral of St Pierre is Geneva's most famous church. From there the 16th-century Calvinist Reformation spread out to embrace the world. The dean of the cathedral, Rev Dr William A. McComish, reminded the worshippers of the distinctive Reformed understanding of the church. "We are the people of God," he said, "all of us together."

In a cathedral bedecked with flowers in the national colours of Ghana, Setri Nyomi was introduced to a congregation representing the 215 member churches of the Alliance around the world by the outgoing general secretary, Prof. Milan Opocensky of the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren.

Together with his wife, Akpene, Dr Nyomi was presented for installation by the moderators of two Ghanaian churches: Rt Rev J.Y. Ledo of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, and Rt Rev Dr Sam Prempeh of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.

He was ceremonially welcomed as general secretary by five people symbolically representing different aspects of the Alliance:

the longest-serving member of WARC staff, Ms Margaret Owen;
the president of the National Protestant Church of Geneva, Rev Joël Stroudinsky;
the president of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, Rev Thomas Wipf;
the president of Princeton Theological Seminary, Rev Prof. Thomas Gillespie; and
one of the three Vice-Presidents of the Alliance, Dr Olivia Masih White.

Officers meet in Geneva

The service of installation was preceded by a three-day meeting in Geneva of the officers of the Alliance to consider its future with new leadership in a new century. The meeting began in a new style, by tearing up the agenda and, instead of hearing reports from staff, focusing on the headline issues facing the 125-year-old fellowship:

the need to make the Alliance more relevant to its membership - and to bring the membership closer to the Alliance;
the call to member churches to engage at all levels of their life in recognition, education, confession and action regarding worldwide economic injustice and environmental destruction;
the need for more effective communication with and within the whole Reformed family;
the challenge to break with structures that were straitjacketing the Alliance's small staff and to find new ways of working as an integrated team;
the need to widen and deepen the Alliance's financial base; and
the 24th general council, due to be held in four or five years' time.

Páraic Réamonn