On 20 September of this year, the first general secretary of the World Council of Churches, and one of the founders of ECLOF, Willem A. Visser ’t Hooft, would have been 100 years old. He died in 1985. ECLOF joins the World Council of Churches in paying tribute to this ecumenical pioneer and giant.

Below is an extract from the minutes of the first meeting of the Council of the Ecumenical Loan Fund, held on 29 March, 1946, at 17, route de Malagnou, Geneva.

“Taking advantage of the fact that the whole Council was present, Dr Visser ’t Hooft sketched the prospects before the Ecumenical Loan Fund. He asked for a circular to be prepared informing the Reconstruction Committees in Great Britain, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. of the creation of the Ecumenical Loan Fund, and asked for a letter of thanks to be sent to the Commission for World Service in the USA, whose first donation had enabled the Ecumenical Loan Fund to be established, and to Mr John D. Rockefeller, Jr who has promised an important contribution.”