{"id":28235,"date":"2026-09-24T16:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/?p=28235"},"modified":"2026-09-24T16:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T14:27:12","slug":"church-in-changing-landscapes-gods-mission-and-our-own-lecture-by-jerry-pillay-general-secretary-of-the-world-council-of-churches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/2026\/09\/24\/church-in-changing-landscapes-gods-mission-and-our-own-lecture-by-jerry-pillay-general-secretary-of-the-world-council-of-churches\/","title":{"rendered":"Church in Changing Landscapes: God\u2019s Mission and Our Own lecture by Jerry Pillay (General Secretary of the World Council of Churches)"},"content":{"rendered":"
Before the lecture, Rector Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Kust\u00e1r introduced the speaker to the audience, revealing that Jerry Pillay\u2014an honorary doctor of our university\u2014has attended papal audiences seven times since assuming the role of General Secretary in 2023. As his presentation demonstrated, he travels extensively to conflict-ridden regions across the globe, driven by the very mission that formed the subject of his talk. (The audience listened to the lecture with simultaneous interpretation provided by Dr. G\u00e1bor Ittz\u00e9s.)<\/div>\n
Jerry Pillay began his presentation by describing the “polycrisis” defined by the World Council of Churches in 2022. According to this definition, the simultaneous presence of five major crises can be observed in our world today:<\/div>\n
1) accelerating climate change;<\/div>\n
2) a global, unjust economic order;<\/div>\n
3)the erosion of the enforcement of human rights, which can affect the dignity of ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities alike;<\/div>\n
4) a crisis of governance, the weakening of democratic institutions, and the rise of authoritarian regimes;<\/div>\n
5) the spread of violence, manifesting both within countries and in international relations.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Christian world can confront this complex crisis \u201conly by bearing witness to the lordship of Jesus Christ,\u201d the speaker emphasized. Speaking on the changing nature of the Church\u2019s mission, the speaker noted that \u201crecent developments in thinking about mission and evangelism can act as a catalyst for contemporary churches, particularly in clarifying their fundamental role and defining their mission and ministry both in and towards the world.\u201d He emphasized that \u201cthe Church is not the sender but the sent… its mission is not secondary to its essence; the Church exists in mission and builds itself up for the sake of that mission.\u201d In this context, the speaker cited the document published in 2012, *Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes*: \u201cThe Church is God\u2019s gift to the world, intended to transform it towards the Kingdom of God. Its mission is to bring new life and proclaim God\u2019s loving presence in our world.\u201d<\/div>\n
Speaking about the role of the church, he emphasized that \u201cthe church must stand where God stands and must not become intertwined with the rich and the powerful. The language of love manifests itself above all in standing up for justice, championing the cause of the poor, and offering hope amidst injustice and suffering.\u201d<\/div>\n
Reflecting self-critically on the unrest in our world, he stated: \u201c\u2026even the churches hold differing views; we are all too captive to religious nationalism, and often\u2014whether justifiably or not\u2014we become tools of states and politicians.\u201d<\/div>\n
Speaking of discipleship, he remarked: \u201cOur discipleship\u2014even when we strive to transform the unjust systems of the world\u2014must be grounded in our own transformation, achieved through a continuous journey of conversion toward God\u2019s love in Christ, toward the needs of the world, and toward the demands of love.\u201d<\/div>\n
Following questions from the audience, the event concluded with closing remarks from the Rector, who expressed his appreciation for the lecture and presented gifts from the university to General Secretary Jerry Pillay.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the lecture, Rector Dr. Zolt\u00e1n Kust\u00e1r introduced the speaker to the audience, revealing that Jerry Pillay\u2014an honorary doctor of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28236,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28235\/revisions\/28236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drhe.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}