The cross and the dove
For almost two years, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay, from South Africa, has served as general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), a “Christian UN,” working for peace from Kyiv to Gaza.
What drives him to wake up every morning is the desire to “heal a broken world.” With “Jesus as the absolute centre” of his life, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay has served as general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) since January 2023. Established in 1948 and based in Geneva, the WCC is a fellowship of 352 member churches. Its mission? “To work for the unity of Christians, but above all, for peace,” explains the 59-year-old reverend. Pillay embraces these responsibilities with particular fervor, shaped by his own history of enduring exclusion and injustice.
Of Indian descent, Pillay was raised in apartheid-era South Africa. He is the second youngest of six children, the oldest two of whom were deprived access to higher education due to the harsh political realities. However, he acknowledges that his family experienced certain modest advantages: “Although we were classified as Black, South African Indians had some autonomy to foster their own community’s development, such as raising funds to build schools and hospitals.”
Son of a textile business manager and a homemaker, both parents being Hindus, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay reflects that he was nonetheless raised “in close proximity to Christian culture from a very early age.” Growing up in a district of Johannesburg, he attended Sunday school classes at a local church in his neighborhood. “My parents, observing my early and growing interest in Christ, were quite supportive,” he says, describing his family as very open-minded. This openness reached a poignant moment one Christmas Eve, when his father, gravely ill with a debilitating stomach condition, declared: “If Jesus exists and allows me to eat this meal, I will become a Christian.” To everyone's amazement, the man who had been unable to eat for months finished his plate. He and his wife subsequently joined the Presbyterian Church, where he became an elder and his spouse President of the Woman`s Association. As for Pillay, at just ten years old, he began preaching the Gospel in the streets—“standing on a little stepladder, with a toy microphone.”
Dialogue
In 1986, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay earned a master’s degree in theology from the University of Durban-Westville, where he was encouraged to stay on. However, his pastoral calling was stronger. This led to over two decades of ministry, during which he made a significant impact as a natural leader in the churches he served. In 1999, shortly after the end of apartheid, Pillay, participated in uniting the “predominantly white” Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa with the “entirely black Reformed Presbyterian Church” to form the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Pillay, then as general secretary of the Church, was asked to navigate the delicate crisis of uniting these Associations. “Fifteen years of work and dialogue, and then, finally, the grace of God.”
Pillay continues to champion dialogue. Especiallyin Ukraine, even though “the situation there seems at an impasse.” At the WCC, however, there is a strong commitment to ensuring that “all parties in any conflict remain at the table.” A prime example of this is the stance taken at the last assembly, held in Karlsruhe in 2022, where the decision was made “not to suspend the Russian Orthodox Church.” When asked about Mikhail Goundiaev ’s presence on the WCC Central Committee—nephew of Patriarch Kirill, who himself served on the committee in the 1970s and later suspected of being a KGB agent—Pillay is reassuring. “He’s not a spy, though he continues to to defend the interests of a church that is involved in the war.”
Not all of WCC’s actions take place in the public eye. “Sometimes we act discreetly, especially when highly exposed individuals may face challenges and, at times, on extremely sensitive issues. This has, at times, led some Christians to believe that we were not active enough in Ukraine and Palestine,” explains Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay. He highlights the “Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, which facilitates the deployment of volunteers to show solidarity with victims of humanitarian law violations.” Pillay also mentions his recent meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, “a leader who desires peace but has no control over his own prime minister”.
Pillay describes the situation in the Middle East as “intolerable. Pillay notes that” the WCC has hesitated to compare the Middle Eastern conflict to South African apartheid”, before renouncing it. A step that he has personally taken 2016. He expresses regret over the cautious stance of certain Christians who are reluctant to condemn Israeli actions. This hesitancy, he notes, stems from their deep historical and theological connections with Judaism. “We must remember: the modern State of Israel is not the Israel of the Bible.”
The Christianity of Tomorrow
Committed to reporting on the work for peace carried out by the WCC, Pillay also wants to highlight other ongoing efforts "from Myanmar to Colombia," including Sudan, where famine now threatens more than 20 million people: "We are working hand in hand with the government."
In regular contact with Pope Francis, despite the Catholic Church’s role as an “observer” at the WCC, Pillay emphasizes “the power of ecumenism” in today’s world. “We must unite to defend our values in the face of growing secularization.” Secularization, he observes, is one of the main factors contributing to the shrinking resources of global churches, particularly in Europe, where declining membership is making financial collaboration with the WCC more difficult. Yet, despite these challenges, Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay holds a strong and hopeful vision for the future of Christianity: “The Christianity of tomorrow will come from Latin America and the global South, where churches are still growing.”
ENCA BIO
1965 Born in Merebank, South Africa
1987 Ordained as reverend at McDonald Memorial Presbyterian Church
2002 Earns a doctorate in Missiology and New Testament studies from the University of Cape Town
2018 Appointed Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
2023 Becomes general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
Read the original article: "Jerry Pillay, la croix et la colombe" - Le Temps
"Jerry Pillay, diplomate chrétien pour la paix mondiale", by Reformés.ch