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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]
Jerry Pillay | |
|---|---|
| General Secretary, the United Presbyterian Church of South Africa | |
| Church | Uniting 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 | |
| Born | 1965 (age 58–59) South Africa |
| Denomination | Calvinist |
| Alma mater | University of Durban-Westville University of Cape Town |
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]
Pillay is the author of some 30 articles, relating to church history, missiology, or other topics, published mostly between 2015 and 2021.[6]
Pillay holds an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Debrecen in Hungary.[4]
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