The World Clergy Leadership Conference (WCLC), an initiative affiliated with UPF, hosted its first ever assembly on February 5, 2020, in the Republic of Korea. Some 1,200 Christian leaders who have overcome denomination, race, and nationality gathered from around the world. WCLC was inaugurated on December 28, 2019, at the Prudential Center in New Jersey, USA, with over 30,000 people in attendance.
Opening the WCLC Assembly were co-moderators Rev. Dr. Luonne Rouse, national co-chair of ACLC, USA, and Ms. Laura Yang, director of the International Committee of the Korea Religious Association, who warmly welcomed all the participants, speaking in English and Korean, respectively. Rev. Rouse then invited Bishop Noel Jones, senior pastor of the City of Refuge Church in Los Angeles, California, U.S., to the stage to give the welcome address.
Rev. Dr. William A. McComish, dean emeritus of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Geneva and president of the Geneva Spiritual Appeal in Switzerland, gave the guest lecture, in which he talked about clergy and leadership. “Clergy have the role to lead their communities. This has many forms—a priest, a minister, a rabbi, an imam. Clergy are the leaders of the communities, and the leadership is recognized by the communities,” he said.Then, other WCLC Committee members from Korea, Japan, the USA, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Africa addressed the audience to launch the worldwide organization.