Reflection text
Call to Prophetic Action for Life, Justice, and Peace
Message of the Joint Conference of the WCC Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice and Peace, meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand on 4-9 October 2026.
This week, the Office for Unity was prepared by the brothers and sisters of the Community in Nantes.
When Jesus prayed for his disciples, he prayed, “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:21) Unity or oneness, is not an end, it is a sign and symbol of a church reliant on the Triune God and engaged in a prophetic and pastoral witness of thought and action, critique and hope, proclamation and presence, so that the world might believe.
In this time of converging “glocal” crises, with such grave implications for hard-pressed communities made vulnerable around the world and for the future of our Living Planet, we sought to discern the signs of the times.[…]
The signs are ominous. The world is confronting an unprecedented, interconnected polycrisis […].
Based on other reflections and actions of the WCC, we acknowledge this moment as a kairos, a defining time for the future of humanity and creation. In 1935, Dietrich Bonhoeffer asked whether the church could speak the demands of Jesus Christ to a world heading towards war. We ask this question again today, to our churches and to ourselves. We answer with confession of our complicity, confession of our silence, and a repentant commitment to change what we do, reiterating the Belhar confession of 1982 and the Accra confession of 2004.
In this critical kairos moment, our advocacy and action for life, justice, and peace must be credible to be impactful. And to recover the credibility of this witness in the world today, churches must embody metanoia, a genuine turning around. This requires addressing our own internal complicity in systemic injustices, relinquishing power […]
We must be prepared to change enough that credibility is the consequence, rather than the objective, of our public witness and diaconal action.
Intercessions
To be adapted or modified according to the place and the circumstances
Lord, we give you thanks for all the young people and everyone who is helping to prepare for World Youth Day in Seoul. We especially thank you for our young brothers and sisters who are in Manila this year with the Chemin Neuf Community.
Lord, we entrust to you all those who are devoting their time to these preparations: guide them and fill them with your missionary zeal. May your Holy Spirit inspire ecumenical initiatives within World Youth Day in Seoul.
Lord, we give you thanks for all the young people whom you call and who long to discover you. Thank you for all those who knock on the door of the Church—through parishes and student ministries—and ask to be baptized.
Lord, we entrust them to you. May the Holy Spirit open their hearts to your Word, and may he strengthen their faith and their desire to know you. May they find brothers and sisters in our communities who welcome them, walk alongside them, and bear witness to the joy of believing.
France has been experiencing social tensions and difficulties in recent weeks. We entrust to you the secondary school pupils and university students who are worried about their future, as well as families and those in precarious circumstances.
Lord, we pray for all those who have been affected by the violence during the recent demonstrations. Grant those in government, as well as the social partners, the willingness to listen and the courage to engage in dialogue, so that social justice and peace may flourish.
Prayer for Christian unity
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen!
(Prayer written by members of the Chemin Neuf Community
inspired by a prayer of Father Paul Couturier)