Bernice Powell Jackson
President from North America, World Council of Churches
Bio and press contact: see below.

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I tape this message on the eve of September 11, and so I especially want to thank the churches of the world for your prayers and support in those days after 9-11, and for the Living Letters delegation, which brought such comfort to many of us in those awful days. Your support continues to sustain and encourage the churches in both the United States and Canada in our peace-making and justice-creating work.

Thanks for your support and your prayers and your solidarity during this 2004 Decade to Overcome Violence year as we focus on the United States. In this 2004 year of the Decade to Overcome Violence, we at the United States' churches are keenly aware of our responsibility in the world; and in the spirit of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, perhaps our nation's greatest advocate for nonviolence, we recommit ourselves to working to overcome violence and to working for a world of peace with justice.

Message delivered on 21 September, 2004, to mark the observance of the International Day of Prayer for Peace.

Biographical summary

Dr Bernice Powell Jackson's commitment to peace has found concrete expression through more than a quarter of a century's advocacy and action on behalf of civil, women's and human rights in the US and around the world. Within the United Church of Christ, she has served in a number of capacities ranging from responsibility for her church's work on racial justice to her current role as executive minister of its Justice and Witness Ministries. On June 2004 she was elected WCC president from the North American region.

Media contact: +1-216-736-3701


Last edited on September 19, 2004 by Juan Michel / WCC