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Report of the General Secretary to the WCC Central Committee, June 2025

Report of the WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay to the WCC Central Committee meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa on 18-24 June 2025.

18 June 2025

General Secretary

Video feature

Adele Halliday, the Anti-Racism and Equity lead at The United Church of Canada, delivered a keynote speech entitled “The State of Racism and Anti-Black Racism in the World Today”, 19 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

“Friends in church, let’s talk…” about anti-Black racism

Adele Halliday, the Anti-Racism and Equity lead at The United Church of Canada, raised questions that served as touchstones for further conversation during an ongoing international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision.”

06 June 2025

Interview

A photo of Thore Sell, from Lutheran Church of Northern Germany, Youth Network of the Centre for Global Ministry and Ecumenical Relations and Laquitissa Talvina Tesco, youth projects co-manager for the Zion Union Apostolic Christian Church in Mozambique.

Young people share vision of path toward racially just world

Young people who participated in the international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision” shared their vision of how to decolonize churches and communities, and move toward a world with racial justice.

05 June 2025

Video feature

To achieve racial justice, church must acknowledge past failures, keynote speaker urges

Yvonne Apiyo Brändle-Amolo, in a keynote speech titled “The Global Persistence of Anti-Black Racism and Role of the Church,” on 19 May, analyzed the enduring issue of anti-Black racism rooted in historical legacies of slavery and colonialism.

03 June 2025

Document

Message

Communiqué of the Ecumenical Berlin Conference 2025

“Berlin 1884 – 1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racism Ecumenical Vision”

02 June 2025

WCC Programmes

Feature story

Former World Council of Churches general secretary Konrad Raiser delivering opening remarks at the international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision”, 18 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

Reclaiming the anti-racist vision: Konrad Raiser opens WCC conference in Berlin

On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the 1884–85 Berlin Conference that institutionalized the colonial partitioning of Africa, former World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Konrad Raiser delivered opening remarks at a landmark ecumenical gathering in Berlin.

19 May 2025

News

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier walks with the late Dr. Agnes Abuom, former moderator of the WCC Central Committee, as the president arrives at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Karlsruhe, under the theme "Christ's Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity", Germany, 31 August 2022, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Final call to join: A transformative WCC ecumenical conference on racism, colonialism, and faith in Berlin

There’s still time to join a landmark moment in global ecumenical reflection and justice advocacy.

15 May 2025

Media advisory

The Französischer Dom in Berlin, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Berlin Conference to Address Racism, Xenophobia and the Legacy of Colonialism, 17–20 May 2025

Commemorating the 140th anniversary of the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference that legitimized the colonial partitioning of Africa, this global event will confront the ongoing legacies of colonialism and systemic racism. At a time of growing polarization, the conference aims to offer an ecumenical and ethical framework of justice and solidarity.

09 May 2025

Feature story

Registrations Now Open: Join the WCC Ecumenical Conference in Berlin – 140 Years After the Conference That Changed Africa and the World

140 years after the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, one of the most consequential geopolitical gatherings in modern history, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ecumenical partners

08 May 2025

Interview

2025 VA Knoche 062 Beteiligte by Bohlaender

Rev. Detlev Knoche reflects on “supporting each other on this journey”

Rev. Detlev Knoche recently retired as director of the Ecumenical Centre of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau and of the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck. He took time to reflect on his inspirations, people along the way, and the importance of journeying together.

31 March 2025

Event

“Berlin 1884-1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In search of a shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision”

17 - 21 May 2025

Berlin, Germany and online

News

Conference will focus on “Berlin 1884-1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In search of a shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision”

A conference from 17-21 May in Berlin will invite global ecumenists to intentionally engage the outcomes of the Berlin conference in 1884-85, develop a response to the historic and continuing legacies of colonization, and collectively re-envision a de-colonial Africa in a concrete “Anti-Racist Ecumenical Action Plan for Decolonization and Reparations.”

13 February 2025

Blog post

Overcoming racism, xenophobia, and related discrimination

In 1975, the WCC 5th Assembly declared “racism is a sin against God and against fellow human beings.” Fifty years later, racism – both interpersonal and systemic—and its related sins of xenophobia, casteism, and the discriminations suffered by Indigenous, Roma, Haratine, Quilombola peoples, and many others are not showing signs of waning.

31 January 2025

Dr Masiiwa Ragies Gunda

Feature story

Local fishing community pictured near Cape Coast Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the fortresses built by European colonial powers which was used as a final point of departure for the men, women, and children who were sold into chattel slavery, Ghana, Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Pictures

WCC reference group meets in Ghana to discuss realities of racism, xenophobia, and casteism around the world

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Reference Group on Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all other forms of Discrimination, met in Accra, Ghana from 2-6 December.

12 December 2024

News

Sister Rosa Le Thi Bong, a Vietnamese member of Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, says goodbye to people in Riimenze, a small war-ravaged village in South Sudan where she spent more than a decade as a member of Solidarity with South Sudan, a pastoral and teaching presence of Catholic clergy, religious and laity from around the world.

WCC moderator reflects on a racially just, inclusive, and healing community

World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm spoke at a conference on racial justice hosted by the Diocese in Europe of the Church of England from 4-7 December.

05 December 2024

Document

Report

Report of the WCC general secretary at the executive committee in Paralimni, Cyprus

Report of the WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay at the WCC executive committee meeting convening in Paralimni, Cyprus, 21-26 November 2024.

21 November 2024

Executive committee

Event

WCC seminar - “The word of God is living and active: Decolonising the Bible in the midst of colonial legacies and idolatrous powers”

18 - 23 November 2024

The World Council of Churches (WCC), with the University of the Western Cape, will hold a joint seminar from 18-23 November, in Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town, South Africa

News

Seminar will address decolonising the Bible

The World Council of Churches (WCC), with the University of the Western Cape, will hold a joint seminar from 18-23 November, in Cape Town, South Africa.

07 November 2024

News

Maliwa Excellent, de l’Église évangélique méthodiste d’Argentine, portant une Bible ouverte, lors de la première session plénière du Comité central du Conseil œcuménique des Églises après la 11e Assemblée du COE à Karlsruhe, en juin 2023 à Genève. Photo: Albin Hillert.

Nouvelles publications antiracistes et anti-préjugés du COE pour les Églises et les communautés

Le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) a publié de nouvelles ressources pour combattre le racisme et les a priori.

01 November 2024

News

Maliwa Excellent von der Evangelisch-Methodistischen Kirche von Argentinien liest in einer Bibel während der ersten Volltagung des Zentralausschusses in Genf nach der 11. Vollversammlung des ÖRK in Karlsruhe im Juni 2023, Foto: Albin Hillert

ÖRK stellt neue Materialsammlung für Kirchen und Gemeinschaften zur Überwindung von Rassismus und Vorurteilen vor

Der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) hat zwei neue Publikationen zur Bekämpfung von Rassismus und Vorurteilen vorgestellt.

01 November 2024