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He leaves a legacy as a champion of communications and as a builder of ecumenical relations. Throughout his career, he worked to empower and inspire young people to join the ecumenical movement.
In 1977, Gurney joined the WCC as press officer in the News and Information Office, during which time he established a working relationship with many churches—including those in North Korea. He served with the WCC in various capacities from 1977 to 1985, creating a communications coordinators network in the Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee, and World Service, before a period with the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.
At that time, he produced for the WCC the fictional film “Sanctuary” on refugees (written and directed by James Becket).
Gurney also served as a co-opted staff writer for WCC central committee meetings in West Berlin in 1974 and in Geneva in 1976. He again served as a co-opted staff writer for the WCC 5th Assembly in Nairobi in 1975.
“Robin was an excellent companion full of kindness and wisdom,” said Marianne Ejdersten, WCC director of communication. “We worked together in the ecumenical movement for more than 27 years—full of mentorship, collaboration, and friendship.”
Ejdersten added that Gurney was “a role model for leadership, encouraging, inspiring, empowering younger communicators, giving space to them, and helping them to find their way and place in the ecumenical movement.”
Gurney also served as communications secretary for the Conference of European Churches (CEC) from 1990-2002. He played in 1994 a major role in creating Ecumenical News International.
CEC general secretary Rev. Frank-Dieter Fischbach said: “It is with sadness that we receive the news of passing away of Robin Gurney. On behalf of CEC, I convey my sincere condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues, with gratitude for his work in the area of communications for the Conference of European Churches.”
Passion for film
Gurney’s passion for film was well-known. Since 2010, he was an Honorary Life Member of Interfilm, an international network for the dialogue between church and film.
He initiated the Templeton Award for religious journalism and in 1997 the European Templeton Film Award. After retiring in 2001, he served as a mentor and member of the jury for the Templeton Film Award until 2006, and he did the same at the Documentary Film Festival “Visions du Réel” in Nyon, where a new established interreligious jury from 2005-2007 awarded a Templeton Special Prize. In 2007 the Templeton Foundation closed the two projects, but Gurney still visited festivals and supported Interfilm.
President Prof. Dr Julia Helmke, president of Interfilm, expressed deep mourning for the death of Gurney. “For many decades he was our loyal supportive, smart and engaged friend, a fierce ecumenical soul, Templeton film juror, and a committed member of our steering committee/Interfilm board,” she said. “As a long-term member of WCC and CEC he inspired us with his ecumenical spirit.”
Helmke noted that Gurney was one of the minds behind many important film conferences. “He was a restless ambassador of the reconciliation between eastern and western Europe; with his British humour he saved many difficult situations,” she said. “As an excellent networker he managed to install the Templeton Film Prize for more than a decade and helped us to bridge cultural differences.”
She noted that Gurney loved films, and was an excellent film critic and a good friend. “He kept contact with us up until lately and we as Interfilm are honored that he accepted being an honorary member of Interfilm,” she said. “Rest in peace.”
Many-faceted career
Over the course of his career, Gurney also served as a trades union official, a public relations officer with the United Nations Association, a press officer for the Methodist Church, and a media secretary of the Church Mission Society, among many other roles. Amid all his global accomplishments, he remained also a servant of the grassroots, editing parish magazines and supporting other local initiatives.
Fond memories
Rev. Dr Keith Clements, who served as CEC general secretary from 1997-2005, vividly recalled Gurney coming out of his office on 11 September, 2001 holding a transistor radio to his ear, saying, “Someone has just flown an airliner into the World Trade Center in New York . . . No, wait – a second airliner has gone in too.”
Clements recalled that everyone in the CEC corridor was stunned. “But Robin was already trying to find out whether and how electronic communication with the USA was being affected,” Clements said. “This was typical of him, an ear alert to what was happening in the world and what it might mean for the churches.”
Clements also recalled Gurney at the heart of CEC’s life and work during a time of rapid change. “The methods of communication also were being revolutionised as we moved from the age of print to the digital world,” Clements said. “Robin saw that staff at all levels were familiarised with the new technology.”
For Gurney, communication and ecumenism were two sides of the same coin.
“Generous with his time, he was ever ready with his wise counsel and advice—sometimes expressed very forthrightly but always with a cheerful grace and a touch of humour,” said Clements. “He was above all generous in his friendship, a gift which is central to ecumenical life, and which in his case continued well into his retirement. Thanks be to God for his life and the rich memories of him we shall ever cherish.”
Peter Kenny former editor-in-chief of Ecumenical News International (ENI) 2002-2010, and currently editor-in-chief of Ecumenical News, remembered how Gurney "believed consummately in ecumenical communications".
"At the end of 2022, he signed me up as editor-in-chief of the now-defunct ENI. He was president of the board and ushered me into the post with the grace and aplomb so characteristic of him", he said. "He believed passionately in the power of independent news as a vehicle to power the ecumenical message and was a fully supportive superior", added Kenny.
Wholehearted devotion
Rev. Luca Maria Negro, former head of communications for CEC and president of the Protestant Federation of Churches in Italy, described Gurney as a great Christian communicator, wholeheartedly devoted to the ecumenical cause.
“He was instrumental in making the work of CEC known, particularly in the period between the first (1989) and the second (1997) European ecumenical assemblies,” said Negro. “Among his achievements, is the CEC quarterly ‘Monitor,’ published in four languages until 2009. He was excellent in networking with other Christian communicators, and was a remarkable talent scout.”
Erich Weingartner, who previously helped lead the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, said that Gurney was a committed WCC colleague.
“Whatever issue we worked on together, I could count on his competence and energy,” said Weingartner. “He was thorough in his research, and eager to resolve conflicts – whether these be international, ecumenical, or personal.”
Gurney also had a keen sense of ethical responsibility. “He was unafraid to disagree sharply with me, whenever he felt I was in the wrong,” said Weingartner. “But while others might simply have walked away from interpersonal differences, he was always eager to reconcile our differences to benefit the ecumenical work that needed to be done.”
Weingartner and Gurney worked together on some of the most problematic issues confronting the ecumenical community back in the 1980s. “I valued his friendship over the years, continuing to communicate long after my exit from the WCC many years ago,” said Weingartner.
Keith Jenkins, former associate general secretary of CEC and director of its Church and Society Commission, said Gurney brought great commitment to everything he did, a breadth of contacts, and an eye for a good story. “I found him particularly helpful and sensitive in the merger of the Conference of European Churches and the European Ecumenical Commission for Church and Society,” said Jenkins. “Intensely loyal to the ecumenical movement, he never lost sight of his free church roots.”
Rev. Dr Karin Achtelstetter, executive director of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, considered Gurney an icon of ecumenical communication, describing him as a thoughtful communicator with a wonderful sense of humour. “I cherished his wisdom and advice,” she said. “I miss him, but his legacy will live on.”
Two children, four trunks…
From an English Methodist background, Gurney served as a Salvation Army officer and missionary in Argentina. In fact, he documented this period of his life by writing, on 4 July 2024, “Sixty-three years ago today, my wife and I sailed from London…in a cargo ship to work in Argentina…Only possessions were in two tin trunks. We returned five years later with two children and four trunks!”
