Jerry Pillay

The Reverend

Jerry Pillay
General Secretary, the United Presbyterian Church of South Africa
ChurchUniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa
Other post(s)President, the World Communion of Reformed Churches
General Secretary, World Council of Churches from January 2023
Personal details
Born1965 (age 58–59)
South Africa
DenominationCalvinist
Alma materUniversity of Durban-Westville
University of Cape Town

Jerry Pillay is the current (since 2023) General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. He is a Reformed pastor, member of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, former professor of theology at the University of Pretoria where he heads the Department of History and Ecclesiology and was Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion.[1] He was elected president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) in 2010 and, in June 2022, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC),[2] to take office on 1 January 2023.[3]

Biography

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Pillay was born in 1965 into a family of Indian origin who had been in South Africa for five generations.[2]

With a pastoral vocation from childhood, he holds a Bachelor of Divinity (Honours) from the University of Durban-Westville (1986), a Master of Arts in Missiology and Church History from the University of Durban-Westville (1988) and a Ph.D in Church History and New Testament from the University of Cape Town (2002)[4] focused on social development.[1]

Initially a proposing pastor at McDonald Memorial Presbyterian Church in Amanzimtoti from1987 to 1989, he then served as pastor at Lotus Park Presbyterian Church in Durban, then at Bridgetown Presbyterian Church in Cape, then at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Benoni from 1998 to 2008.[4]

After serving as moderator and then general secretary of the United Presbyterian Church of South Africa, a member of the central committee of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), he was elected president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) on 24 June 2010.[5] He is also a member of the World Missionary Council (WMC), an international body based in London.[4]

On 17 June 2022, he was elected general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).[2]

Published works

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Pillay is the author of some 30 articles, relating to church history, missiology, or other topics, published mostly between 2015 and 2021.[6]

Distinctions

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Pillay holds an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Debrecen in Hungary.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "South African Jerry Pillay elected new WCC General Secretary". www.cath.ch/ (in French). Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Newly elected WCC general secretary believes that growing up in South Africa will help him in his approach to conflict and suffering". the World Council of Churches. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay (Presbyterian Church) Beats Dr Elizabeth Joy (Malankara Orthodox Church) to Become the New WCC General Secretary". ocpsociety.org/. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "Prof Jerry Pillay inaugurated". https://www. up.ac.za/. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  5. ^ "A first South African president for WCRC". https://www. reformes.ch/ (in French). 24 June 2010. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  6. ^ See this list of Jerry Pillay's articles, or this one.
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