National Lutheran Council. Division of Lutheran World Federation Affairs. Office of International Exchange.

The National Lutheran Council (NLC) was established on September 6, 1918 as a common agency of participating Lutheran church bodies to administer domestic programs, publicize Lutheran activities and beliefs, and provide overseas emergency relief to areas devastated by World War I. In 1956, the NLC created an administrative assistant position devoted to the management and direction of its exchange programs. Ruth C. Wick officially assumed the position in 1957. Her responsibilities involved assisting the NLC's Department of Lutheran World Service in administering.

The American part of the LWF's Department of World Service Church Workers Exchange; the Department of Theological Cooperation in administering the American part of the LWF's Department of Theology student exchange; and the Department of World Missions Cooperation in administering its scholarship program in Tanganyika Territory, East Africa. The Office, under Wick's direction, was overseen by the Committee on International Exchange whose membership include Wick and officials from the Division's Departments of Lutheran World Service, Theological Cooperation, and World Missions Cooperation.