Jerry Pillay

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. 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), taking office on 1 January 2023.

Biography Pillay was born in 1965 into a family of Indian origin who had been in South Africa for five generations. focused on social development. He is also a member of the Council for World Mission (CWM), an international body based in London.

Distinctions Pillay holds an honorary doctorate in theology from the University of Debrecen in Hungary.