WCC reference group leaders discern what joint witness means today

WCC reference group leaders discern what joint witness means today

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Wed, 10/14/2026 - 16:21

Leaders from three World Council of Churches (WCC) reference groups, following a recent conference in Chiang Mai, reflected on what it mean to witness together, and what they hope churches will do.

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Rev. Hanna-Maria Pauliina Parhiala (Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission), co-moderator of the WCC Ecumenical Diakonia Reference Group, Thandiwe Soko-de Jong (Protestant Church in the Netherlands), is co-moderator of the WCC Gender Justice Reference Group, Very Rev. Fr Hrant Tahanian (Armenian Apostolic Church/Holy See of Cilicia), co-moderator of the WCC Reference Group on Overcoming Racism, Xenophobia, Casteism, and all forms of Discrimination

Photo: Sean Hawkey/WCC

Rev. Hanna-Maria Pauliina Parhiala, from the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission, co-moderator of the WCC Ecumenical Diakonia Reference Group, said that the reference group contributed a distinctive focus on ecumenical diakonia as shared witness, shared agency, and institutional transformation.

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