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Miriam Weibye, from Church of Scotland and a member of the WCC central committee, related her history with the WCC, which dates back to the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, South Korea in 2013.
Weibye asked everyone present who had either been a youth delegate or a steward at a WCC assembly to please stand for recognition, acknowledging that each of them have their own stories.
When asked what message she wanted to share with the 75-year-old WCC, she said: “Trust your young people. We have skills—and if you nurture those skills we will still be here when we’re not young people anymore.”
She added: “I often say I have one foot in the Church of Scotland. My head and heart are in the ecumenical movement.”
Julia Rensberg, who served as a delegate of the Church of Sweden at the WCC 11th Assembly in 2022, and is also a representative of the Sami Council within the Swedish Church, spoke as both a young and Indigenous person. “We need to unite as a church globally to help us survive this climate crisis,” she said. “The planet is hotter than ever.”
She added that the best way for her to celebrate anything is to be at one with nature. “We need to help God protect nature and all that’s living to keep the biodiversity,” she said.
Brian Muyunga, from the Anglican Church in Uganda, co-hosted the celebration discussion, saying: “I’d like to just express a wish.”
His wish is to be present when the WCC turns 100 years old, and even longer into the future, he said, adding that addressing the climate emergency is essential to realizing his wish.
Livestream video of the WCC 75th anniversary celebration
Photo gallery from the WCC 75th anniversary celebration
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25 June 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: Miriam Weibye of the Church of Scotland speaks during a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the World Council of Churches marked at the Ecumenical Centre and central committee gathers in Geneva on 21-27 June 2023 for its first full meeting following the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022.
Albin Hillert/WCC
