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After four years as general secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen has returned home to Denmark, filled with confidence in the future of CEC and its growing influence on European affairs. With a clear mandate to sharpen CEC’s purpose and profile fulfilled, and strategic directions for the future affirmed at last year’s general assembly in Estonia, he now continues an extraordinary ecumenical journey, a journey where the search for his own Christian identity has played a significant role.

No holidays for William Temple, Archbishop of York, early in August 1937. The ecumenical movement for the social responsibility of the churches, known as “Life and Work,” had just held its world conference in Oxford, 12-26 July, with the church struggle against emerging totalitarian states at the heart of its theme and work. Temple had drafted the final message of the conference, known for the motto “let the Church be the Church.”   

“El Pacífico es una extensa región oceánica, y consideramos el pequeño tamaño de nuestra región una fortaleza, no una debilidad. En medio de la vulnerabilidad que nuestras islas experimentan frente al cambio climático, el colonialismo geopolítico y el neocolonialismo, afirmamos nuestra resiliencia como un don de Dios, arraigado en nuestra sabiduría indígena y celebrado como espiritualidad de la abundancia y la hospitalidad”, dijo Iemaima Vaai, asesora joven del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) en representación de la Iglesia Metodista en Samoa, en el mensaje que compartió con el Comité Central en nombre de la región del Pacífico.

“The Pacific is a large ocean region, and we see the smallness of our region as a strength not a weakness. Amidst the vulnerability our islands experience to climate change, geopolitical and neo-colonialism, we affirm our resilience as a gift of God, rooted in our Indigenous wisdom and celebrated as spirituality of abundance and hospitality,” said Iemaima Vaai, representing the Methodist Church of Samoa and youth advisor to the World Council of Churches (WCC) in her shared message to the central committee, on behalf of the Pacific region.