The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee approved a communications strategy that focuses on innovative and inspiring ways to tell the story of the global ecumenical fellowship.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has received approval for its Strategic Plan 2023-2030 from the WCC central committee. The WCC’s governing body took into account the interrelation of programmes, and determined that the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity will serve as a programmatic umbrella. 22 June 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: WCC president Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith of the National Baptist Convention USA and other central committee members raise orange cards in affirmation, as the World Council of Churches central committee gathers in Geneva on 21-27 June 2023, for its first full meeting following the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe in 2022. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC 27 June 2023 “Some member churches have adopted this approach already, others are just beginning to receive this idea of a spiritual journey which can be taken together,” acknowledged the central committee. The governing body also discussed the common understanding of unity, in which it became clear that the focus for the WCC is on the unity of the church as a sign of God’s reconciling of all human kind and all of creation. “Yet, different ideas were exchanged, when to invite people of other faiths to become part of the companionship, especially in multi-religious contexts,” reads the report. “The common understanding of ecumenical diakonia provides more coherence to the programmatic work.” Another suggestion was to consider the proclamation of the gospel in all programmatic work as a key undertaking. The central committee approved the WCC Strategic Plan 2023-2030 “as a guide for implementing and monitoring the work of the WCC until the next assembly, with a mid-term evaluation in 2027 to review progress,” the report reads, which also asks “the general secretary to further develop objectives and indicators for 2023-2026 from the overall framework, to be reviewed by the executive committee in November 2023.” The central committee also asked the executive committee to monitor the implementation of the strategic plan 2023-2026, and to report to the central committee in 2025, before the mid-term review in 2026. In addition, the governing body asked the general secretary to develop a concept note towards a common understanding of the Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity “in order to provide coherence to the programmes of the WCC, making use of the theology of companionship, to be presented to and adopted by the next executive committee meeting.”   Report of the Programme Committee Photo gallery of the WCC Central committee meeting WCC Central committee meeting, June 2023 See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland