Among his many lifetime accomplishments, Sjollema was known for becoming, in 1970, the first director of the newly created WCC Programme to Combat Racism, which made grants to southern African liberation movements, including the African National Congress. In total, more than $12 million was distributed to anti-racism work around the world. The Programme to Combat Racism advocated the withdrawal of investments from South Africa and the closure of bank accounts of those banks which supported the apartheid regime. The WCC itself gave the example by closing its bank accounts with three major European banks involved in strengthening the apartheid system. The WCC urged a serious consideration of economic disengagement from racist institutions as a means of nonviolent action to overcome apartheid. Many churches followed the WCC’s example after fierce debates in their synods and general councils. Sjollema led from the beginning of the Programme to Combat Racism, always voicing his belief that Christians were challenged to confess their faith through action. Carrying the legacy forward WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended his condolences to Sjollema’s loved ones and to all the WCC family. “Just a few weeks ago, as we gathered with WCC retirees, Baldwin shared a message in which he said: 'We can never achieve justice and peace ourselves. We can only receive them from God as a gift. But at the same time God's gift is humanity's task.’ ” Pillay urged the WCC fellowship and all people of good will to carry forth this task by honoring legacy and the messages of Baldwin Sjollema. “Baldwin’s legacy provides the inspiration and the wisdom we need to address the precarious situation of the world today,” said Pillay. “He challenged structure, authority, and power in ways that changed the world. May we endeavor to do the same.” WCC moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm reflected that Sjollema embodied the Christian conviction that racism is a sin against God and human beings. “This conviction is fundamental for the work of the WCC,”he said. “Baldwin Sjollema was one of the most forceful and impressive protagonists of this conviction in WCC’s history.” Bedford-Strohm added that Sjollema made a difference in helping to bring down a racist regime in South Africa. “We see the traces of his blessed work until today,” he said. WCC president from North America Rev. Dr Angelique Keturah Walker-Smith expressed gratitude for Sjollema’s legacy. “We thank God for his powerful legacy that serves as a powerful witness of bold courage and love of neighbor,” said Walker-Smith. “Such resulted in voices and actions of hope denouncing the scourge of racism—voices and actions that have benefited all of us. May we too exhibit a bold courage of radical love that results in positive change with and for all of us today.” Former WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca reflected that Sjollema left a legacy for generation after generation. “He was a member of the board of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey for many years, and contributed with his expertise to the academic development of Bossey, returning each year as a guest lecturer for our students.” Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, former WCC general secretary, described Sjollema as a man of profound faith and unyielding commitment to justice. “Baldwin’s deep convictions were rooted in the belief that true Christian faith must be expressed through tangible action,” he said. “His leadership in the program extended far beyond words; it was about transforming the world, dismantling oppressive structures, and liberating those bound by the shackles of injustice.” Raiser also remembered Sjollema as a man of courage. “He took stands that were often unpopular, knowing the price that could come with challenging the powerful forces that upheld injustice,” he said. “Yet, his life was a testimony to the power of faith-driven action.” Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, who retired as director of the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order at the end of 2022, reflected on Sjollema’s profound association with the ecumenical struggle against apartheid. “Through the ecumenical struggle against apartheid, to which Baldwin was profoundly associated, the Reformed family of churches declared that apartheid is a sin and its theological justification is heresy, and the WCC came to a deeper understanding of the unity which is God's gift in Christ and our task as churches, namely that the search for communion in apostolic faith, sacramental life and ministry is inseparable from the gospel-based conviction that racism is incompatible with legitimate diversity, as Faith and Order would later correctly state in its document The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” said Mateus. ‘Not as one person’ In 2004, Sjollema, received the Oliver Tambo Order from South African president Thabo Mbeki. Sjollema was decorated for his commitment to the South African liberation movement and to the struggle against apartheid in particular. The decision to honour Sjollema was a formal sign of South Africa's recognition of the WCC’s efforts to support the liberation movement in South and southern Africa. At that time, Sjollema himself noted that millions of people were engaged in the struggle against apartheid all over the world. “Together, we made a small contribution to the overall struggle which was fought first and foremost by the people of South Africa themselves,” he said. Later that year, the WCC also honored Sjollema with a special ceremony and plaque back in Geneva. Accepting the WCC plaque, Sjollema said: ”This is not something we did as one person but as a team," said Sjollema. Still, "the end of official apartheid in South Africa does not mean the end of racism," warned then-WCC general secretary Sam Kobia at the Geneva ceremony. "Racism is still very much alive." Said Pauline Webb, vice-moderator of the WCC central committee at the time, "Racism isn't just about attitude. It's about who holds the power." Years later, in 2019, during an Ecumenical Strategic Forum convened by the WCC, Sjollema was among religious leaders who examined the painful history of racism and also asked difficult questions about how churches may be accountable for racism today. “We seek to forget rather than to remember,” said Sjollema. “There is no doubt that the issue of refugees and asylum, of hospitality to and solidarity with people of different races, religions, cultures and sexual identities are part and parcel of the racism and discrimination today.” Sjollema grew up in Rotterdam, Netherlands during World War II and then embarked on a lifetime of international work for the WCC and the International Labour Organisation, particularly in work related to racial justice. In 2004 he was enlisted in the Order of the Companions of Oliver R. Tambo by the Government of South Africa. He was a graduate in Sociology of the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. From 1953-56 he assisted Dutch Indonesians emigrating to the USA, working for Dutch Inter-Church Aid in Utrecht, Netherlands. During 1957-58 he was in charge of the Vienna, Austria, Refugee Office of the WCC, assisting refugees from the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. From 1958-1981 he worked at the WCC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, first as executive secretary of the WCC Migration Secretariat, where he worked from 1958-1969, before becoming the first director of the WCC Programme to Combat Racism. In 1982, Sjollema left the WCC to direct the International Labour Office Anti-Apartheid Programme. In 1990, Nelson Mandela, shortly after his release from prison, visited the WCC headquarters and addressed the whole staff to express his special gratitude for the solidarity by the WCC towards the people of South Africa during the most difficult years of their struggle for freedom. The WCC became part of a worldwide movement of resistance against apartheid, trying to achieve racial justice. In order to achieve that goal, much resistance had to be overcome from within the churches hampered by theological traditions and historical prejudices. In his book “Never Bow to Racism—A personal Account of the Ecumenical Struggle,” published by the WCC in 2015, Sjollema said: “We have to say no to the destruction of life, to injustice, and the misuse of power. We have learned that resistance is a way of life. We will have to find new forms of resistance as we engage in hard and sometimes hopeless tasks. Resistance has to continue as long as there is a threat to humanity, violence against human life. To resist is in the first place to keep alive the fragile flame of life. It is not necessarily something heroic or secret, an underground movement. What matters most when we are faithful to the gospel is the liberation of people and the defence of values, without which there is no life possible. The responsibility of human beings for each other extends to the whole of humanity throughout time.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his endorsement of the book wrote: “We owe a great deal to Baldwin Sjollema’s dedication and unswerving opposition to injustice. His life story recalls the heroisms and tragedies that accompanied that work of solidarity and social change. I invite readers to hear his story and to share his deep commitment never to bow to racism.”
It will be possible to follow online the funeral service on 13 September, 13:00 (Geneva time) | 
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