First woman president for Chilean Church. (News).

Rev. Gloria Rojas Vargas is the first woman to head the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile (IELCH). The Synod Council last appointed Rojas, 48, to succeed Rev. Martin Junge who took up the appointment as the Area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean at the LWF Department for Mission and Development. Rev. Rojas holds a bachelor's degree in theology from the Evangelical Institute for Theological Studies in Latin America (ISEDET) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Ordained in 1985, Rojas has served as pastor in various congregations in Chile. She was elected to the IELCH Synod Council for the first time in 1986, and was appointed its vice-president in 1996. Rojas is the second woman leader among the 14 LWF member churches in the Latin American and Caribbean region. She is married to Adolfo Covarrublas, and the couple has three children.