Document
I am grateful to Dr Joel Brown, Director of Historical Society, Disciples of Christ and Rev Paul Tché, President of Christian Unity and Interfaith Ministry, Disciples of Christ, for this kind invitation and to all of you for this opportunity to participate in your general assembly and to reflect with you today about signs of hope and wholeness we might identify and nurture in our magnificent yet imperiled world.
I come to you from the recent biennial meeting of our WCC central committee, where you were ably represented by Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, General Minister and President of the CCDOC in the US and Canada. We are so grateful for the Disciples’ and the CCDOC’s many contributions to the global ecumenical movement and to the WCC over many decades.[i]
Today I want to speak to you, personally and earnestly as a fellow disciple of the Lord, about the sites or signs of wholeness in our fragmented world. The Hebrew word Shalom speaks of salvation, health, wholeness, peace and harmony. Fragmentation describes brokenness, divisions, sufferings and pain. The latter is, unfortunately, so much of what we are seeing in the world today.
Admittedly signs of wholeness and peace are more difficult to detect in our present age and circumstances. But I do believe that as Disciples of Christ, you might be particularly alert to and open to such signs and their implications for our discipleship in today’s world. Disciples have played a distinctive, indeed unique role in the North American religious history and landscape. After all, The Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ emerged in the tumultuous and deeply conflicted world of 19th century America and the Second Great Awakening. Over more than two centuries now, your forbears in faith, and you yourselves as Disciples, have sought to understand and live out the gospel message of God’s good news as it comes to us in the words and example of Jesus, in your daily walk of discipleship. Over many decades in three centuries, disciples have wrestled mightily and consequentially with the extent of your ecumenical engagement and tolerance for religious diversity, the purpose and shape of mission, the role of music in liturgy, the proper way to interpret the Bible, the role of women and, in the present period, your openness to membership and ordination of LGBTQ persons and how to come to terms with the history and legacy of racism in North American life.[ii]
We can legitimately say that a defining gift of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has been to read the signs of the times in light of the earliest Christian witness, the imperatives of love, and the quest for unity. Always looking for the light.
Light for our sacred journey
Where is that light today? Where do we see signs of the inbreaking of God’s realm? Where do we find human wholeness being nurtured and encouraged?
Despite the profound crises that we are experiencing in the world today—from poverty and hunger to lethal conflict and war, from climate change to eroding democratic governance and respect for International Laws, human dignity and human rights[iii]—I believe that we find signs of wholeness-making in the concrete work for justice and peace of the churches and their many allies, giving us as faith-filled Christians reason to hope and clues to God’s ongoing work of redeeming humanity through a New Heaven and New Earth.
As one might expect, your commitments and priorities as Disciples of Christ in the USA and Canada also have a deep consonance with the initiatives of the whole fellowship of churches in the WCC and with the spirit, practices, and values of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As I seek to indicate these allow me to offer just a few examples from the sermon on the mount and show how they can be seen in the work you do[iv]:
Blessed are those who show compassion
I find in the Disciples’ quest for “wholeness in a fragmented world” and in your aim to be a pro-reconciling church a real kinship with the global ecumenical fellowship’s Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity, especially in the latter’s intent to celebrate the gifts, to acknowledge and lament the wounds, and to offer ourselves in solidarity to heal and transform the injustices and pain we encounter there.
Through the ecumenical Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity, you and all of us in the ecumenical fellowship pledge together to pursue justice, reconciliation, and unity in concrete ways.[v] At the WCC, the Pilgrimage is a guiding light to all our work, an umbrella over all our programmatic efforts. We see the whole global ecumenical movement journeying toward justice, peace, and reconciliation. Practically, that means pursuing human dignity, human rights, peace among peoples, and the health of the planet through deep engagement together in concrete activities and consequential partnerships. As Christians, and as Christian churches and agencies, our discipleship finds concrete diaconal expression in enhancing the human good.
Fundamentally, then, the Pilgrimage is a metaphor for the sacred journey of faith by which all of us, as Christian disciples and as churches, unite to walk and work and pray for the reign of God and the welfare of humanity. Its interlocking aims are meant to address our multiple crises through the fellowship’s and member churches’ modelling real community, through our joint advocacy and action, and through our accompaniment with and service to those in need. It is a vision deeply consonant with and indeed shaped by the diaconal imperatives of our contemporary world. The imperatives that do not only speak of relief, development, care, the preferential option of the poor but, more significantly the need for prophetic diakonia and witness in a time of crises, conflict and fragmentation.
Blessed are the peacemakers
Much of the WCC’s time, effort, and resources go into peace-making initiatives. And rightly so as you consider the violence, conflicts, and wars that pervade our world currently. The WCC is clear in its document The Things That Make for Peace[vi] that violence is not the way to solve problems, but that peace is established through dialogue. The WCC embraces reconciliation as a sacred mandate rooted in Scripture. Jesus’ declaration – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9) – and Paul’s affirmation that “God has given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18) guide the WCC work. Grounded in these teachings, the WCC has pursued healing in fractured communities, fostering dialogue where division persists, and upholding the dignity of those wounded by conflict.
Although the WCC is engaged in peacekeeping and peacemaking in many different countries around the world, our heaviest engagements in these last few years have been with Ukraine; Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem; the Korean Peninsula, Sudan; and the peace process in Columbia.
An emblematic case in point is our engagement in the peace process in Colombia, as an official “permanent accompanier” of the dialogue table between the Government of Colombia and the EMBF, a faction of the FARC-EP.
The WCC also focuses on countries and contexts that get hardly any or no media coverage of their situations such as, Sudan, Myanmar, DRC and other such places. Our task is to amplify the voice of the voiceless, share awareness of their contexts and work for peace.
In Gaza, although key political actors seem either determined to wipe Gaza clean of its people, or are indifferent to their fate, along with continual direct appeal to the warring parties, we and churches and people of faith have over many years advocated for and contributed to the establishment of the principles and mechanisms of international law, for the protection of people and communities against violence and oppression by the powerful. In the West Bank and Jerusalem, our Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) can continue, although in constrained circumstances, its ministry of accompaniment, protective presence, monitoring, and reporting on the situation for Palestinian communities there. I am not sure that everyone in the WCC fellowship fully understands and appreciates how unique and precious a contribution EAPPI makes to sustaining the persistent, determined hope for just peace in the Holy Land. This programme, operated by the WCC on behalf of the worldwide ecumenical movement, is now essentially the last remaining permanent international monitoring and solidarity presence in the communities of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Likewise, in Ukraine, faced with the ongoing existential threat posed by Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable invasion of its sovereign neighbour, the WCC seeks to encourage solidarity rather than division, and unity of purpose among the churches of the country as they minister to the Ukrainian people in the midst of this national crisis. While we insist, as we do in all contexts of conflict and conflict-risk, that dialogue is the only viable path toward sustainable peace, dialogue that is imposed and excludes attention to the fundamental issues of justice and responsibility that underlie the conflict is no true dialogue and cannot lead to true and sustainable peace. It is worrisome when governments are in so-called peace talks but continue to attack and kill innocent people on a daily basis, mainly women and children. We see this in Gaza where more that 50 000 people have already lost their lives and in Ukraine and Russia. Indeed, the church cannot remain silent in the face of these senseless killings. The gospel imperative is that we will prophetically speak truth to power and challenge the systems that perpetuate injustices and fragmentation of society and world. Yet, it is never an easy task even for Christians since we too are divided by political, national, geopolitical interests. Where is the wholeness of the gospel message in all these? Where do we speak the truth? When do we speak the truth? Should it not be in all places and at all times for this is the imperative of the Gospel?
I continue to believe that there is a role and indeed a responsibility for the WCC fellowship to engage in a deep dialogue among us on the Christian calling to be peacemakers in such concrete contexts as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I deeply regret that despite many efforts to discern it, the path to such dialogue has not yet appeared. But I fervently hope and believe that God will yet show us the way and give us the courage to work for peace and justice in the world.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth
Against the background of our climate emergency—daily attested in worldwide disasters and unrelenting scientific warnings—and in light of our theological understanding of the Creator’s sovereignty, it is no small wonder that the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022 identified climate justice and sustainable development as one of the key priorities for the council and established a commission to further this work. At the latest central committee meeting, we launched the WCC Decade on Climate Justice and Action campaign. We give thanks for all the work so many of our member churches are already doing in addressing climate justice, ranging from eco-congregations, recycling, education and awareness, biblical teachings, and other transformative activities. This decade on climate justice hopes to bring all these together, strengthen global and local efforts, and encourage and mobilize member churches who still need to get their teeth into this and work with other nongovernmental organizations, governments, and professionals to further address the climate catastrophe. Our task is to hold out hope and responsible actions in caring, loving, and sustaining God`s earth.
No doubt, the accelerating global climate crisis, and declining political will for the increased global cooperation so urgently necessary to address it, engenders despair in the hearts of many in our fellowship who have worked long and passionately to protect God’s precious and unique creation, of which we are an integral part. Nevertheless, even in this critical context, I draw hope from the commitment and determination of so many in our constituency and beyond (which came together in 2015 to great effect in Paris), who continue to believe that “another world is possible” and who continue to work for it. Wholeness means taking responsibility to care and be good stewards of God`s whole creation, people and planet.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
Economic injustices continue to pervade the world. Economic systems largely benefit the rich and further affect the poor. The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. The whole world is in need of economic transformation. The quest for economic justice is probably going to be in greater demand given the current trade wars and how they may impact affected countries – the poor will always be at the receiving end of economic downturns. The WCC continues to hold out hope and to witness as transforming disciples as we strive to work for economic justice.
Especially considering steeply increased disparities of wealth and income between the top few and the bottom half, and rebellion by less developed countries against the exploitative character of the international extractive economy, the need for reform, indeed structural reform of our neoliberal paradigm, is clear. Such revision is also, of course, deeply political and maddeningly complex. So the 6th Meeting of the Ecumenical Panel on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) – comprised of church leaders, economists and social scientists convened by the WCC and other international ecumenical organizations—produced a communiqué this spring, calling in the short-term for an urgent renewal of global solidarity and recommitment to democratic values, international human rights frameworks, and multilateral processes addressing global economic and ecological governance; as well as practical measures to end the hyper-concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few individuals and their business entities, including through a range of progressive tax policies. It is important that faith communities not merely criticize economic policies but provide alternate just solutions. This is the task of NIFEA, which we celebrate and recognize with joy and thanksgiving. These are signs of wholeness in an economically fragmented and unjust world where the rich thrive and the poor struggle to survive daily.
Blessed are those who mourn
Apart from celebrating the joys of fellowship and the gifts we can claim by virtue of our diversity; in our pilgrimage we must also acknowledge and visit and lament the wounds of the world and the pain they inflict. We know that racism and discrimination and xenophobia have seeped deeply into the fabric of societies and cultures around the world. Racial and ethnic violence claims many lives and disrupts communities daily. Many people live with a sense of hopelessness in their situations. The WCC continues to engage in intentional work and witness in challenging racial injustices and fostering decolonization, particularly through a new reference group established by our most recent assembly. Racially prejudiced treatment of migrants is a particularly worrying development that requires structured interventions by churches and people of goodwill.
Some churches, mission agencies, and specialized ministries have also started the processes of redressing the historic harms and traumas committed against Indigenous Peoples and many other racialized peoples from around the world. The solidarity shown by some European and North American siblings—including by the Disciples of Christ—who are descendants of communities that enslaved and exploited are now more readily acknowledged and addressed. That enslavement and colonization were partly informed and legitimized by theological constructions that assigned Christian virtues, vices, and qualities to some people based on skin pigmentation demonstrates how theology and biblical interpretation can be weaponized. The experiences of racialized people globally reflect a deeper problem of distorted and distorting theologies and biblical interpretations that challenge the WCC and all churches to take leadership in addressing toxic theologies and approaches to mission, theology, ecclesiology, and biblical interpretation.
The WCC 11th Assembly’s call to embrace decolonization and anti-racism, including intentionally taking stock of our own histories as churches, mission agencies, specialized ministries, and as the WCC invites us to constantly remind governments and states to uphold the dignity of all people in their territories, not least, refugees and migrants and Indigenous Peoples, especially at a time when people are forced to migrate due to conflicts, economic opportunities, and climate emergencies. Through these endeavours, the WCC continues to hold out hope for transformation as the struggle against racism and all other forms of discriminations continues.
The recent ecumenical Berlin conference on Colonization and Racism in May 2025 brought together several ecumenical actors from around the world, and reminded us of the intersections between politics, economies, religions, inequalities, injustices, and racism. Theologians, activists, and ecumenical policymakers dissected a litany of faith-challenging experiences ranging from systemic to interpersonal racism, xenophobia, Afrophobia, casteism, classism, and other forms of discrimination. Racism remains a major fault line in the world today, with experiences of and outcomes for Africans and people of African descent often determined by racially prejudiced policies, laws, systems, structures, and practices.
Through these endeavours, the WCC continues to hold out hope and transformation as the struggle against racism and all other forms of discriminations continues. These are signs of wholeness in a fragmented world. And you as Disciples of Christ continue to work on these issues addressing racism and discrimination in your own context and beyond. Yet we know that more must be done to address the brokenness and sufferings in the world.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
Churches in North America and around the world have had to wrestle with issues of sexuality and gender justice, often with divisive results. Yet the topics are so close to humans’ personal identity and flourishing and also to social justice that they cannot in conscience be ignored. Moreover, the churches, as tabernacles of our deepest human values, have greatly influenced our attitudes and values about sexuality and sexual behaviour. The WCC’s programme of Just Community of Women and Men continues its advocacy, research, and monitoring of gender justice in many communities around the world; to counter the discrimination and prejudice, unfairness and violence suffered particularly by women and girls.
Thursdays in Black also continue to promote awareness of and action against gender-based violence. The Disciples are very much a part of this years-long campaign to encourage people to wear black on Thursdays as a sign of resistance against such violence and solidarity with women who are resilient in the face of injustice and violence. And now at this Assembly you have adopted this for the entire CCDOC to observe.
We encourage churches also to become safe, nonjudgmental spaces for real conversation about gender, identity, and sexuality. Such “Conversations on the Pilgrim Way”[vii] offer a concrete means for groups and congregations to explore the many important issues related to sexuality in an atmosphere of respect, empathy, healing and wholeness.
As you know, discussions on human sexuality are no easy journey for the Christian churches, and we have certainly encountered this within the WCC. In fact, one of the most divisive issues in the church relates to sexuality. We have seen how these conversations have led to splits, fragmentation and divisions in churches. The vision for Christian unity is often abandoned at the compulsion of differences and disagreements rather than the call of Jesus to be One.
Despite these challenges there are wonderful signs of wholeness. The recent WCC Central Committee agreed to keep the conversation human sexuality on the table, open further possibilities for engagement and establish a reference group. While some may consider these to not be enough but they are small steps and signs of wholeness amidst fragmentation.
You are the light of the world
As perhaps you have derived from this sampling of topics, despite the many dispiriting and discouraging aspects of our contemporary world situation, I see many signs of hope and wholeness. I see them in you and in all Christians who refuse to lose hope, who step up and step out for justice and peace, and who offer themselves as agents of reconciliation in our conflicted, fragmented world.
Whether in peacemaking or climate action, economic, gender or racial justice, we find the chief signs of wholeness in the coming together in unity of people and churches with each other and in the world, overcoming fragmentation and division, envisioning an alternative framework for human interaction and society, and healing and redeeming human welfare and the planet. That is the work of reconciliation: welcoming the stranger, the marginalized, youth, the disabled, and sexual minorities, and affirming their human dignity. Often countercultural, it is the practice of nurturing wholeness by prizing diversity and difference and overcoming divisions and polarization and fragmentation. It might not always be received well but let us be clear: size of membership is not the proper gauge of authenticity for Christian churches. Living the Gospel message with integrity and courage is, especially in a fragmented world. In a fragmented world Christian unity is imperative. A divided and fragmented church does not have a credible message for an already broken, divided and suffering world.
Our costly discipleship, lived daily in our families and communities, in churches and the world, can be a catalyst, a leaven, a model of the peaceable kingdom and thus a transformative element for the larger society. Jesus himself remarked on this creative, transformative effect, saying, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Look behind the dark clouds of human cruelty, venality, stupidity, and indifference, and there, always, is the permanently shining sun of hope, and the source of our faith. Christians are people of hope, and the ecumenical movement is a counter-cultural movement of hope. Inspired by the hope we have through our faith in God, we seek justice in the midst of injustice, compassion in the midst of cruelty, accountability in the midst of impunity, responsibility in the midst of careless consumption, and peace in the midst of the most brutal violence. In our work for life, justice, and peace, the World Council of Churches seeks to join with you to express and to inspire hope in this suffering wounded world.
So, my friends and fellow disciples of the Lord, we need to keep the faith and spread the faith, and we do it best by living the faith as we serve Jesus in the world with unity and justice. Let us dare to hope amidst hopelessness. Let us keep hope alive in our hearts, actions, and lifestyles, so that we ourselves become signs of wholeness in our fragmented world.
We are as Christians to live what we preach and preach what we are called to live, therein lies our source and strength for healing and wholeness.
May God`s Holy Spirit keep help us to heal and restore a broken, fragmented and suffering world.
So let us keep on keeping on so that God`s kingdom, reign – God`s wholeness and just peace may come in us and through us to make the world a better place for all creation.
I thank you.
[i] I would like especially to mention Rev. Robert Welsh of Indianapolis and Rev. Thomas Best of Boston, along with Rev. Noël Suministrado of Hamiota, Canada; Rev. Paul Tché, general secretary of the Disciples’ Ecumenical Consultative Council, also of Indianapoli;, and of course Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, General Minister and President of the CCDOC in the US and Canada, whom we also prize as your representative on the WCC central committee. The Disciples have been wonderfully represented in the council over many decades, in its governance and staff, and we have been so well served by the expertise, leadership, and dedication they have brought to the council’s work.
[ii] None of these wrestlings has been easy, or without costs along the way (in divisions and membership). Yet in each of these controversies, Disciples of Christ have sought honestly to follow the message of Jesus, the example of the earliest churches, the wisdom of the Bible, and the overarching demands of Christian unity and fidelity. Your very name, which has confused people for more than a century, testifies to the lengths to which you’ll go in your eagerness to include everyone’s good idea!
[iii] On our current crises and their convergence in what the most recent WCC assembly termed a “polycrisis,” see my address last year to the Canadian Council of Churches at: https://oikoumene.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/2024-11-29%20Address%2080th%20Anniversary%20of%20the%20Canadian%20Council%20of%20Churches_12%20point.pdf
[iv] For a fuller description of the most recent work of the WCC, see my report to the WCC central committee last month, at: https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/report-of-the-general-secretary-to-the-wcc-central-committee-june-2025
[v] For more detail about the Pilgrimage, see: https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-assembly-proposes-a-pilgrimage-of-justice-reconciliation-and-unity
[vi] World Council of Churches, 11th Assembly, The Things That Make for Peace: Moving the World to Reconciliation and Unity, available at: https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/the-things-that-make-for-peace-moving-the-world-to-reconciliation-and-unity
[vii] “Conversations on the Pilgrim Way: Invitation to Journey Together on Matters of Human Sexuality (Geneva: WCC Publications, 2022).
