Malaysian churchman appointed to head WMC Geneva office
7/3/2001 NOTE: A photo is available for use with this story.
By United Methodist News Service The appointment of the Rev. Denis C. Dutton, a Malaysian, as Geneva Secretary for the World Methodist Council, is expected to be confirmed when the council meets in Brighton, England, July 23-25. He will succeed Ralph C. Young, a member of the Uniting Church of Canada, who joined the staff in 1983.
After service in Singapore, Dutton served for 20 years as pastor of the Wesley Methodist Church in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From this historic downtown church in the capital city, Dutton was elected a bishop of the Methodist Church in Malaysia. He served as staff executive for the Council of Churches in Malaysia for 10 years and for five years was the council's president. He has served as one of 16 regional secretaries of the World Methodist Council's program of world evangelism. Recently, he has served as pastor of churches in Kansas.
Dutton's ecumenical credentials include participation in World Council of Churches assemblies, membership on the General Committee of the Christian Conference of Asia, extensive work with the Council of Churches of Malaysia, and presidential leadership of the Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism. He was given the title of Datuk, the highest honor his nation offers. He and his wife Emme Kwan have four children and two grandchildren.
Members of the council meeting in Brighton will also elect a new top staff executive whose offices will be in Lake Junaluska, N.C. Nominated is the Rev. George H. Freeman of Virginia. He will succeed the Rev. Joe Hale who has served as general secretary for more than 25 years. Frances Alguire, a United Methodist from New Buffalo, Mich., will complete her five-year term as council president during the Brighton meeting.
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