WCC Staff Planning Days will focus on new structure

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Staff Planning Days, scheduled for 28 September through 2 October, will focus on implementing a new structure together. Setting aside regular work, the WCC staff will gather as a community to strengthen collaboration and renew their common commitment to engage the WCC fellowship of member churches on a Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity.

Staff will spend two days at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey with opportunities to encounter new students, new colleagues, and celebrate 80 years of ecumenical formation.

The new structure was received by the WCC executive committee in June with the directive to develop corresponding plans and budgets for 2027 for approval in November. The executive committee asked for an implementation framework assessing how the new structure will meet its objectives.

The work during Staff Planning Days will help refine the implementation framework for presentation to the executive committee, including “pilgrimage” as an organizing framework for the life and work of the WCC.

The agenda also includes a focus on WCC commissions, fundraising, and initiating the development of a theme for the 12th WCC assembly in 2030. Colleagues from the WCC Jerusalem Liaison Office will engage local churches on “Christian witness in the Holy Land.” During the week, other WCC staff will be engaged with UN Human Rights Commission sessions on racial justice and the nuclear legacy in the Marshall Islands.

The Staff Planning Days agenda includes different “building blocks” – spiritual life, plenaries, programme development, community building, and departmental work. With the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, WCC staff will pray with the churches and people of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Peru. They will also celebrate the Season of Creation and observe Thursdays in Black.

Learn more about the WCC's Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity