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The seminar was part of an Ecumenical Week ongoing in Stockholm.
Petter Jakobsson, senior advisor for the Swedish Council of Mission, noted that the dialogue on 22 August is part of an ongoing conversation. “The same discussion on the global level is experienced also on the local level,” he said.
Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace, reflected on “Ecumenical Diakonia in a Polarised World: From Stockholm (1925) to the Present.”
He noted that anniversaries are sacred moments in time. “They invite us into the fertile spaces of memory, to look back with gratitude and, at times, with a critical eye, on those who have come before us,” he said. “They are moments not merely of passive recollection but of active appropriation of the past to inform our present commitments.”
True commemoration is never solely retrospective, he added. “It is also prospective, a moment of renewal that dares us to imagine a future shaped by courage, hope, and a rekindled sense of vocation,” Mtata said. "From the ruins of war in 1925 to the poly-crises of 2025, the journey of ecumenical diakonia continues. The world is different, yet the call is the same: to embody God’s love in a wounded world.”
Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, general secretary, ACT Alliance, reflected on relations between civil society and governments, and the impact this will have on diaconal work.
“We are witnessing a global reconfiguration of power: increasing authoritarianism, nationalism, shrinking civic space, and the instrumentalization of religion for political ends,” he said. “At the same time, we see growing inequalities, forced migration, ecological crisis, and erosion of multilateralism — all of which demand a renewed prophetic diaconal response.”
Bueno de Faria also acknowledged rising authoritarianism and shrinking civic space as challenges. “A rights-based approach strengthens our witness — it holds states accountable and promotes dignity and agency,” he said. “There is no contradiction between faith-based and rights-based diakonia; they are mutually reinforcing expressions of discipleship and social justice.”
Anne Helkkinen, a University of Helsinki doctoral student in ecumenics, spoke of the temptation in today’s context for Christians to align themselves with political and military powers.
“Given this tension, how can ecumenical diakonia reclaim and embody its prophetic role?” she asked.
As he formulated an answer, Mtata urged a “re-summoning of that very prophetic nature.
“We can now realize all Christians can be summoned again to patriciate in ecumenical diakonia in their small contexts, and we need to reclaim the prophetic nature of that diakonia,” he said.
Watch the recording of the livestream
Photo gallery: Ecumenical Week in Stockholm 2025
WCC releases Life and Work Digital Collection (WCC news release, 21 August 2025)
“Reclaiming the Spirit of Life and Work for Ecumenical Renewal” (WCC news release, 18 August 2025)
