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The gathering will offer opportunities to share about challenges, opportunities, and direction; to strategize together; and to find paths of collaboration. Four recurring goals provide the framework for Working Together: strengthening collaborative impact, exchanging knowledge for innovation, improving coordination and resource sharing, and enhancing strategic planning and accountability.
“If we believe a more just and sustainable world is possible, how should the ecumenical family be part of co-creating it?” asked Wendy Gichuru, team lead for Global Partnership Program in the United Church of Canada. “A key challenge for specialized ministries of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in this meeting is how to strengthen collaboration with partners in the global majority in co-creating that just and sustainable world, led by the people most negatively impacted by current and historic systemic injustice.”
Working Together 2026 takes place in the fourth full year of the WCC Strategic Plan 2023–2030. Building on the shared understanding developed during an online orientation session, Working Together 2026 will be designed to deepen exchange, strengthen relationships, and support forward-looking collaboration.
The following objectives are specific to Working Together 2026: build on the shared understanding established during the online session; engage in focused, structured dialogue on programme priorities, financial realities, and their implications for shared work; identify concrete opportunities for collaboration and coordination across the network; strengthen relationships and trust through meaningful exchange and engagement; and clarify shared priorities and open questions to guide ongoing work and future collaboration.
For Rev. Vy Nguyen, executive director of Week of Compassion of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada, Working Together meets at a time when the gap between need and available resources is widening, and the complexity of shared work is only increasing.
“This moment is asking more of us—not only in what we do, but in how we relate to one another,” he said. “At its core, this meeting is about relationships. It is a space where we come together not simply as institutions, but as a community shaped by shared faith, values, and a common calling. In a world marked by division and fragmentation, that witness of being together matters deeply.”
As in previous years, the Working Together meetings of the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, and the ACT Alliance will take place back-to-back. In 2026, the programme is further strengthened with a fourth encounter designed as High-Level Strategic Consultation on Ecumenical Cooperation convened by the WCC, LWF, and ACT Alliance.
This sequence of meetings is designed to support continuity across conversations and to enable participants to engage in a broader, forward-looking reflection on ecumenical cooperation.
For Marc-Henri Heiniger, WCC liaison with specialized ministries, there is a strong sense of anticipation as specialized ministries and church-related agencies from across the ecumenical movement gather once again in person for Working Together in Bossey.
"Coming back into the same room carries both energy and meaning — not only to reconnect, but to engage more deeply with one another,” he said. "This is a space to reflect honestly on where we stand, to strategize around present realities, and also to dream together about what comes next."
"At its core, Working Together is about relationships — strengthening trust, challenging ourselves, and shaping a more intentional and collective response to the challenges of our time,” added Heiniger.
Participants will include representatives from specialised ministries and WCC staff engaged in fundraising, planning, reporting, relationship-building, programme development, and finance.
WCC welcomes partners as “Working Together” meeting about to begin (WCC news release, 24 April 2026)
