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Fernandes met with WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, with WCC staff, and with staff from WCC sister organizations for dialogue over the course of the visit.
“I am deeply grateful and thankful for the visit of Roland Fernandes to the WCC office,” said Pillay. “The collaboration and partnership we share with the United Methodist Church is greatly valued and appreciated. Roland’s visit has done so much more to deepen and strengthen the work and witness in which we engage together. Apart from the two secondments we already have to the WCC from the UMGBGM, we were able to identify other possible programmatic collaborations.”
Fernandes received an introduction to the WCC’s work of unity, mission, and ecumenical formation, and public witness and diakonia as well as preparations for the year 2025, which will be “An Ecumenical Year on the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity.”
He also received an overview of the Green Village and how the development project supports the WCC’s agenda for sustainability.
Fernandes visited the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, received an overview of WCC communications, and learned about Youth in the Ecumenical Movement.
Discussions also covered new pandemics and the role of the WCC in relation to the World Health Organization, as well as WCC’s governance—including the consensus model of decision-making— as well as income monitoring, and development. Fernandes also met with ACT Alliance.
He concluded his visit with a roundtable discussion on the ecumenical shared calling today, then enjoyed a guided tour of historic Geneva.
“Given the long history our denomination and agencies have had with the WCC, it was good to spend two days with the general secretary and staff of WCC and get a full picture of all that the WCC is doing, which is not easy to fully grasp in short meetings,” said Fernandes. “I look forward to following up with increased engagement on matters we discussed together as we strive to make a difference in a hurting world.”
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