The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has offered a summary of the "positive influence" that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has had on the works of the WCC as well as the global ecumenical movement.

|PIC1|Congratulating the Archbishop on his 75th birthday, Dr Kobia said, "You have challenged and pushed us never to adjust to the powers that are, but always to discern the signs of God's coming kingdom and to act accordingly."

In a letter celebrating Tutu, who turns 75 today, Kobia recalls the Archbishop's interventions at the WCC 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre last February.

He said, "In Porto Alegre you reminded us that 'a united church is no optional extra'. Rather, you said, it is 'indispensable for the salvation of God's world'."

Having won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, Bishop Desmond Tutu has led a life devoted to spreading the Gospel.

|QUOTE|He was born in 1931 in Klerksdorp, Transvaal. His father was a teacher, and he himself was educated at Johannesburg Bantu High School. After leaving school he trained first as a teacher at Pretoria Bantu Normal College and in 1954 he graduated from the University of South Africa. After three years as a high school teacher he began to study theology, being ordained as a priest in 1960. The years 1962-66 were devoted to further theological study in England leading up to a Master of Theology. From 1967 to 1972 he taught theology in South Africa before returning to England for three years as the assistant director of a theological institute in London.

In 1975 he was appointed Dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg, the first black to hold that position. From 1976 to 1978 he was Bishop of Lesotho, and in 1978 became the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. Tutu is an honorary doctor of a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany.

Dr Kobia explained in his letter that participants at the WCC Assembly had the privilege to see and hear "the inspiring witness of a powerful preacher, the vibrant and exciting testimony of someone who continues to grow with the challenges he confronts, a man with a great heart, ice-breaking humour and a liberating message: an obedient disciple of Christ".

The letter also hails Tutu's role in helping the WCC "to play a decisive role in the struggle against apartheid" and afterwards in leading South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which "gave this fractured and broken world a model for overcoming the wounds of past evils and for creating space for healing and reconciliation".