WCC News: Listening before speaking: conference participants meet local communities in Chiang Mai

Listening before speaking and walking before leading set the tone for the Joint Conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice, and Peace, taking place in Chiang Mai, Thailand this week. Conference participants arrive at the Chiang Mai Breath Council, working with civil society, government, academia, and the private sector to decrease the air pollution that affects the region.  Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 08 October 2026 Participants started with encounters with seven civil society and faith-based organisations in and around Chiang Mai. These "sacred journeys of listening, learning, and accompaniment" tied the conference's theological and ethical reflection to local realities. At the Chiang Mai Breath Council, participants learned how civil society, government, academia, and the private sector work together on the seasonal haze and air pollution that affect the region. The council's vision is sustainable clean air in Chiang Mai – which means addressing outdoor burning, traffic, industry, and cross-border pollution, and calling for a Clean Air Act. Its motto: "…Because we are in the same breath…" Participants of the conference listen to the presentation by Chiang Mai Breath Council, working to decrease air pollution that affects the region. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC Two groups visited Akha and other highland migrant communities that have moved to the city for work, education, and livelihoods. At Kamphaeng Ngam Church, home to an Akha congregation of about 51 families, participants heard stories of displacement and resilience. "Migration is not only movement of people. It carries memory, identity, and hope," the group reflected. At the second church they saw how a congregation offers fellowship and practical support with jobs, family care, and children's education. At the Migrant Assistance Program Foundation, participants met a grassroots organisation working with migrant workers and their families, mostly from Myanmar. It promotes labour rights and offers information in migrants' own languages, with particular attention to the empowerment of migrant women. Members of the local encounter group on Health & Well-being (HIV/AIDs) being greeted as they arrive at Happy Home, an HIV programme of the Church of Christ in Thailand run with the Baan Sabaay Foundation. Photo: John Christensen/WCC A visit to the Hua Rin Temple Drug Rehabilitation Center showed a community-based approach to recovery run by a Buddhist temple. It combines spiritual formation, counselling, and vocational activities with help for people returning to their communities. At Happy Home, an HIV programme of the Church of Christ in Thailand run with the Baan Sabaay Foundation, participants saw a programme that grew from a shelter and crisis centre into outreach for the wider community. People who once received care have become trainers and leaders, and the focus is on overall wellbeing, not just medication. The seventh group visited Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, a leading Buddhist university, to learn about its interfaith dialogue with Christian institutions and other communities on peacebuilding, human dignity, and sustainability. Rev Marvia Lawes, the Abbot Phra Maha Inson Kunavuddho and Thai Muslim leader Ratifar Simarak during the interfaith dialogue visit at the leading Buddhist university near Chiang Mai, with participation of WCC delegates to the Joint Biennial Commisions and Reference Groups Meeting. Photo: Sean Hawkey/WCC The Akha group summed up the lesson of the day: the church is called not only to speak for displaced people, but to walk with them. The joint conference, being held from 4 to 10 October in Chiang Mai, brings together the WCC's commissions and reference groups on international affairs, climate justice, health, gender justice, racial justice, and ecumenical diakonia. Participants are reading the signs of the times and renewing a century of ecumenical social thought for today's challenges, aiming for shared commitments for the churches' witness in service of life, justice, and peace. Chiang Mai conference opens to explore “Being Church in the World Today” (WCC News release, 05 October 2026) PHOTO GALLERY: Conference of the WCC Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice and Peace in Chiang Mai, Thailand Learn more about the Joint Conference of the WCC Commissions and Reference Groups on Life, Justice and Peace 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