Visiting the Holy Land recently, Rev Gerry Pillay spent time with local heads of churches including among others His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Bishop Dr Imad Haddad – recently installed as the fifth bishop in the history of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and who serves both on the WCC Jerusalem Liaison Office Advisory Board and as one of two co-moderators of International Reference Group of the WCC-Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel – and representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem as well as other local church leaders from Jerusalem and the wider region.
He listened and reflected with the church leaders on key concerns and priorities for the local churches in a time and across a context marked by ongoing military occupation, violence, war and daily violations of international law.
“The significance of seeing the witness of the local churches, hearing their stories and understanding the realities in which they serve, and of offering close accompaniment as a global fellowship of churches cannot be emphasized enough,” he said.