Dr. Peirong Lin, Deputy Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), visited the WEA United Nations Liaison office in New York City to affirm the importance of the collaboration with the UN, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as the local church community. It was her first visit since the WEA opened a new office at the Church Center opposite of the UN headquarters in the beginning of the year.
Lin held meetings with Ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam, Permanent Representative of Eritrea to the UN and Ambassador Hoang Giang Dang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the UN, to discuss global and national issues of their respective countries on freedom of religion & belief. She was accompanied by John Girgis, Permanent Representative of WEA to the UN in New York, Commissioner Christine MacMillan, Senior UN Advisor, and Richard Kirenga, Communications Coordinator.
“The WEA has been engaged with the United Nations for many years because it offers us an opportunity to bring an evangelical perspective to conversations around issues that are important to our global constituency. While we have had an office presence in New York City going back to 2010, the new location at the Church Center offers opportunities to meet people close to where they are. And our growing team is excited to share about the valuable contributions evangelical churches and ministries are making in responding to the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of people at grassroots in every region of the world,” Lin said.
During her visit, the WEA office also hosted a luncheon with church leaders in the New York City area to share the vision of the Alliance and identify opportunities of collaboration with the local church community.
“It was a pleasure and a great honor to have Dr. Peirong Lin visit our new office across the street from the UN and for her to join us in our work for a few days. We were able to have informal meetings to get to know each other and have her meet our staff and several of our volunteers,” Girgis said.
“We also had her join us in meetings with the Ambassadors of Eritrea and Viet Nam to the United Nations and talk about areas of mutual interest. Both were so generous with their time and the meetings were warm and will open future opportunities to work together for the benefit of all people in both countries. We were also able to meet with key leaders from the Evangelical community in NYC and the Tri-State area to see how we can partner together to fully serve the UN community as a Consultative Status NGO,” he added.
Under the leadership of John Girgis, the role of the UN Liaison office in New York is to connect the work of WEA’s constituencies to the work, resources, and platform of the United Nations. The office is tasked with developing relationships and engage with governments, UN offices and agencies, civil society and faith-based organizations in New York and the Tri-state area.
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