The World Communion of Reformed Churches announced its new general secretary Sept. 9, reporting that Rev. Philip Vinod Peacock, who had been serving as the communion’s executive secretary for justice and witness, was unanimously elected by the WCRC’s executive committee Sept. 6. Peacock will begin in the role in February 2026.
The communion has been served by interim general secretary Setri Nyomi since January 2024 and an interim collegial general secretariat before that. Peacock was a member of that three-person team. The last long-term general secretary for the communion was Chris Ferguson, whose seven-year tenure ended in August 2021.
The Christian Reformed Church in North America played a role in the formation of the communion, a joining of two earlier ecumenical organizations, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Reformed Ecumenical Council. The CRCNA hosted the WCRC’s inaugural meeting on the campus of Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Mich., in 2010.
Nyomi, the body’s first general secretary, expressed support for Peacock’s election in the WCRC announcement. “I am delighted about the election of Philip Vinod Peacock as the next general secretary,” Nyomi said. “I have known Philip for more than two decades, and I give thanks to God for his dedication to the WCRC and its mission to be a Communion committed to justice. He is focused on the church’s call to God’s work of transformation, a skilled theologian, and committed to a leadership style that values both the team and the churches and communities we serve. He will lead the Communion well.”
Peacock, an ordained minister of the Church of North India, holds a Master of Theology degree from Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary and was an associate professor of social analysis at Bishop’s College in Kolkata.
“I count it a profound privilege to serve our global Communion in this season,” Peacock said in the WCRC announcement. “I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me and come with a spirit of willingness to lean on the wisdom of others and learn alongside every member of the Reformed family. Together, may we bear witness to God’s call for justice, unity and transformation in our world.”
The CRCNA is one of more than 230 member churches from 107 countries in the World Communion of Reformed Churches; a membership that is currently under review by the CRC’s Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee, at the request of Synod 2025.
Synod instructed the committee “to conduct a comprehensive review of the CRCNA’s membership in the WCRC and report back to Synod 2026.” The report is to include a recommendation for synod’s approval or disapproval of continued membership in the WCRC and an analysis of “questionable doctrinal statements,” “political and economic policy positions that are too specific for the institutional church,” and “a greater emphasis on social justice instead of the church’s primary calling of gospel proclamation and witness” (Agenda and Acts of Synod 2025, p. 705 and pp. 390-391).