28 Oct 2025 In memoriam Albert van den Heuvel (1932-2025)

Revd Dr Albert van den Heuvel, who has died in Amsterdam, Netherlands, at the age of 93, was President of WACC 1996-2002.

Van den Heuvel was present in 1975 at the merger of the “old” WACC founded in 1968 with the Agency for Christian Literature Development (ACLD).

Educated at University Utrecht and Union Theological Seminary in New York, upon completion of his studies in 1958 van den Heuvel began working for the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva.

In this capacity he took up the issue of apartheid, attending the WCC’s Cottesloe Consultation in Johannesburg in December 1960 to address racial injustice in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. He was a prime mover in the Notting Hill Consultation of 1969 out of which grew the WCC’s Programme to Combat Racism.

Influenced by Martin Luther King (whose “I have a dream speech” he witnessed first-hand), Van den Heuvel travelled around Europe campaigning for the Programme to Combat Racism in the face of hostile church audiences. He also participated in a number of other campaigns (including the Shell campaign, for which he attended the oil giant’s annual general meeting and confronted the board with questions about their involvement in South Africa).

In 1980 he left his position at the WCC and switched to broadcasting on VARA, a Dutch public broadcasting association, where he served as president for five years, and with the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, where he served as vice-president until 1993.

Van den Heuvel was a contributor to WACC’s international journal Media Development and its predecessor The WACC Journal. He also wrote the booklet “Values for a Global Society” published by WACC.

In it he argued that, “Communicators have to tell stories, descriptive stories, and parables. Values in the form of experiences. Common values because they bind people one to another.”

His many published writings included These Rebellious Powers (1963), The Humiliation of the Church (1966), You Are Hiding God from Me (1973), Shalom and Combat: A Personal Struggle Against Racism (1979), and Common Values in a Global World (2001).

Honesty, integrity, and an unwavering faith marked Albert van den Heuvel’s commitment to social justice and to the crucial role played by dialogue at all levels and in all circumstances.

WACC expresses its sincere condolences to his family and friends, remembering him with enormous gratitude and great affection.

Albert van den Heuvel. Photo: WACC

Watch “Nelson Mandela: Albert van den Heuvel recalls the 1994 election“