How We Work

The NCCA gathers together Churches and Christian communities which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures. We commit to deepen our relationship with each other and to work together towards the fulfilment of common witness, proclamation and service, to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9).

In a few days more than 600 people from around the world will gather in Stockholm, Sweden to mark the 100 year anniversary of the first conference on Life and Work. This was one of the precursor gatherings to the formation of the World Council of Churches.

The context of the first Life and Work Conference was the environment after World War I. It explored how churches could be part of God’s plan for the world at all levels and together build peace and unity. The centenary celebration serves as a reminder that not much has changed! War and its impact is real and ongoing. Our world continues to be in turmoil. The churches’ mission ‘as a unifying force in a turbulent and divided world crying out for peace and reconciliation’ has not ended.

Anniversaries, such as this one, invite reflection on the hopes present in the past and the reality of today. One despairing conclusion of such reflections could be that not much has changed in 100 years!

Injustice is real, evil seems to triumph and hope is fragile. Peace, justice and the overcoming of division remain a priority. The work that we are called to does not end.

This call to all of us as peoples of Christ is captured in the Beatitudes of Jesus and the powerful promise: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9). These few words contain so much. Jesus gives peace-making a priority. We are reminded that peace-making is a continuous activity, one that does not end. Peace-making is a sign of being the children of God and as with all the Beatitudes the promise of blessings is in the present ‘blessed are’.

This 100 year anniversary invites us to continue on our work of peace-making in the confidence of God’s blessings on us and our activities. Our peace-making journey applies to all levels of life, personal, local and global.

Rev John Gilmore

NCCA President

Read: With anniversary just around the corner – churches from across the globe to gather in Stockholm | World Council of Churches | 14 August 2025