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“The World Council of Churches celebrates Oikocredit’s creative, practical initiative for and dedication to a better human living through facilitating economic development and sustainability,” Pillay wrote. “Through your global network of members and partners working for economic justice and social development, Oikocredit honours its ecumenical roots and demonstrates the power of Christian churches and their partners to renew the world in the image of God’s reign.”
Over five decades, Oikocredit has offered a creative, responsible vehicle mobilizing invested assets of individuals, churches, faith-based organizations, and institutions to finance business startups, seed agriculture, develop alternate energy sources, and provide training and capacity-building.
“You have empowered enterprises and communities and benefitted millions of people in dozens of countries,” wrote Pillay. “Such an initiative reflects in part the turbulent yet hopeful spirit of its founding years, following on the WCC’s consequential 4th Assembly, held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968.”
Pillay noted Oikocredit’s advancing of sustainability, equity, climate justice, and peace.
“So, as you look forward to Oikocredit’s next fifty years, we celebrate your innovative and influential work, empowering and seeding better prospects for local communities around the world, and we pray that your work may further flourish in the decades to come,” Pillay concluded.
Learn more about Oikocredit's 50th anniversary
Churches and Oikocredit: Interview explores roots of economic justice (Interview, 28 August 2024)
