Agnes Abuom

Agnes Regina Murei Abuom is a Kenyan Christian organizational worker who serves as moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 2013. She represents the Anglican Church of Kenya.
Biography.
Born in Nandi Hills to a family of six children and a mother who worked with community development, Abuom was educated at mission schools first in her local area and later at a boarding school. She went to high school near Nairobi and then undertook studies at University of Nairobi.
She became involved with the World Council of Churches when the WCC's assembly was held in Nairobi in 1975. She also was involved in student organizations and politics – the latter causing controversies that led her to leave Kenya for Sweden in 1976. She learned Swedish and earned a degree in education. After two years as a youth worker for WCC in Geneva, she returned to Sweden and earned a doctorate in missiology with the thesis "The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Development". She later worked with refugee issues for WCC in Sudan and worked two years in Zimbabwe as a tutor.
Returning to Kenya in 1989, Abuom was imprisoned for her opposition to President Daniel Arap Moi. She went on to work for the Anglican Church of Kenya, mostly with national development issues, and from 1991 with a civic education program.
She became African president for the WCC in 1999 and served until 2006. She has also worked with All Africa Conference of Churches, African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) / Religions for Peace, and National Council of Churches of Kenya. She has been involved in ecumenical work and peace-building efforts in the Horn of Africa and other places.
She is the executive director of the organization TAABCO Research and Development Consultants, which was established in 1997 and focuses on consultant work for civil society organisations and aid organisations.
In November 2013, Abuom was unanimously elected moderator of the WCC Central Committee at the organisation's assembly in Busan, South Korea. She is the first woman and the first African to hold that position.
Abuom is a widow with two daughters, her husband passed on July 2014.
Honours.
In 2017, she was awarded the Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism by the Archbishop of Canterbury "for her exceptional contribution to the Ecumenical Movement, for her work with the World Council of Churches and currently its Moderator".