WCC news: WCC celebrates Oikocredit’s 50th anniversary

In a letter to Oikocredit’s managing director and CEO Miriam ‘t Lam and to all in Oikocredit, World Council of Churches general secretary congratulated Oikocredit on its 50th anniversary. Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, WCC programme director for Life, Justice, and Peace, with Mirjam 't Lam, managing director of Oikocredit.  Photo: Valter Hugo Muniz/WCC 05 November 2025 “The World Council of Churches celebrates Oikocredit’s creative, practical initiative for and dedication to a better human living through facilitating economic development and sustainability,” Pillay wrote. “Through your global network of members and partners working for economic justice and social development, Oikocredit honours its ecumenical roots and demonstrates the power of Christian churches and their partners to renew the world in the image of God’s reign.” Over five decades, Oikocredit has offered a creative, responsible vehicle mobilizing invested assets of individuals, churches, faith-based organizations, and institutions to finance business startups, seed agriculture, develop alternate energy sources, and provide training and capacity-building.  “You have empowered enterprises and communities and benefitted millions of people in dozens of countries,” wrote Pillay. “Such an initiative reflects in part the turbulent yet hopeful spirit of its founding years, following on  the WCC’s consequential 4th Assembly, held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968.” Pillay noted Oikocredit’s advancing of sustainability, equity, climate justice, and peace. “So, as you look forward to Oikocredit’s next fifty years, we celebrate your innovative and influential work, empowering and seeding better prospects for local communities around the world, and we pray that your work may further flourish in the decades to come,” Pillay concluded. Learn more about Oikocredit's 50th anniversary Churches and Oikocredit: Interview explores roots of economic justice (Interview, 28 August 2024) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland