Feature story
Moderated by WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, the pilgrimage encounters featured local church leaders and theologians drawing on the prophetic role of churches across southern Africa in dismantling the dehumanizing regime of apartheid. Milestones, such as the Kairos Document and the Belhar Confession, challenged both state and church complicity in the system.
Rev. Frank Chikane from the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa painted the context in which the Kairos Document was developed. The previous general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and former moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs said, “It was never intended to be a document... It developed from praxis in a struggle... It was developed in a time when people were dying, and people asked ‘Where is God? and ‘What does God want us to do?’ ”
Prof. Puleng LenkaBula (Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa), principal and vice chancellor of the University of South Africa, asked deep questions on church theology and society. She noted that those who created and enforced the oppressive system, violence, and injustice in South Africa were themselves Christians and asked participants to reflect on “what do we do theology for, and how do we do theology.” She reminded participants that the mission of God includes “tangible actions of solidarity.”
Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, president of the South Africa Council of Churches and a Roman Catholic bishop, stated that the role of the church is to continue engaging in efforts for just leadership. “Democracy does not mean voting every so many years and then not keeping people accountable.”
In the discussions, Jacques Heymans, youth advisor, noted that the Kairos Document “was not just a protest; it was a theological outcry against a system that clothed itself in the language of faith, while crushing the lives of the poor.” He asked, “In this new Kairos moment, will the church repent of systems that silence and marginalise its own youth?”
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Father Michael Lapsley (Anglican Church of Southern Africa), Founder of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, speaks during a Pilgrimage Encounter with the local context of South Africa, held at the 2025 Central Committee meeting of the World Council of Churches in Johannesburg, South Africa from 18 to 24 June 2025.
Albin Hillert/WCC
Father Michael Lapsley, a priest from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, recounted how a 1990 bombing became redemptive through the establishment of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, which addresses the need for psychological, emotional, spiritual, and economic healing in South Africa and now worldwide.
Lapsley suggested that patriarchy and gender-based violence are the oldest wounds of humanity, but also highlighted the wounds of racism, genocide, colonialism, greed, materialism, climate destruction, and other injustices. Speaking of Palestine, Gaza, and other sites of war, he challenged the global church that “We will be asked what we did during the genocide, not what our statements said,” inviting them to focus “less on orthodoxy and more on ortho-praxis.”
During the panel discussion, the moderator asked South African church leaders how they address reconciliation in their respective contexts.
Rev. Dr Gustav Claassen, Dutch Reformed Church, was challenged on the narrative of white farmer genocide in South Africa. He responded, “It is a far-fetched and politicized situation. The very high numbers of farmers that are being killed are part of the very bad statistics of the level of violence in our country.”
Participants in a panel discussion noted that the Belhar Confession identifies God as standing in a very specific way with the poor and marginalized, and that the church should stand where God stands. They warned against understanding healing from the centre or telling people how they should feel their pain. They highlighted the imperative of justice for silenced voices such as the Herero, the people of Matabeleland, and other sites of violence and genocide.
Participants were invited to reflect theologically on their contexts, inspired by the South African experience, and to discern how the church can continue to be an agent of justice and healing in a broken world.
WCC Central Committee, June 2025
Video recording of the Central committee Day 2
WCC general secretary reflects on daring to hope amid struggle (WCC news release, 18 June 2025)
Welcomed by African churches, WCC central committee opens (WCC news release, 19 June 2025)
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Church and civic leader Rev. Frank Chikane from the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa speaks during a Pilgrimage Encounter with the South African context held during the 2025 Central Committee meeting of the WCC in Johannesburg, South Africa from 18 to 24 June 2025. Other panellists include Prof. Puleng LenkaBula (Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa), principal and vice chancellor of the University of South Africa, and bishop Sithembele Sipuka, president of the South Africa Council of Churches and a Roman Catholic bishop.
Albin Hillert/WCC
