Preparations for the next General Council of the WCRC to be held in Chiang Mai in October 2025 are ongoing. Last week, the General Secretary and two executive secretaries along with a few members of the worship committee visited Chiang Mai.
The delegation made up of General Secretary, Setri Nyomi, Executive Secretary for Theology and Communion, Hanns Lessing, Executive Secretary for Justice and Witness, Philip Vinod Peacock, General Council Coordinator Prawate Khidarn, Chairperson for the worship committee Gerardo Obermann and members, Esther Widiasih and Jooeun Kim met with members of the local host committee and the local worship committee. Worship is a central part of the General Council and frames it liturgically and theologically.
General Secretary Nyomi said that the preparations of the General Council are well on track and called on the entire communion to “prayerfully prepare for the General Council so that it would be dedicated to the glory of God and the good of God’s people.”
Lessing and Peacock, along with a team from the Church of Christ in Thailand led by Khidarn, also visited Mae Sod and a refugee camp at the border with Myanmar to plan the immersion programmes at the General Council. Lessing, previously the General Council Coordinator of the Leipzig assembly, said, “Immersion and engagement with the local culture is an essential part of the work of the General Council, and people serve to locate the General Council in the context.”
The General Council is the highest decision-making body of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. The 27th General Council will meet in Chiang Mai in Thailand between the 14th and the 23rd of October 2025. The theme of the General Council is “Persevere in your Witness”