The Rev. Denise Scotto, Esq. (right), presents The Rev. Liberato Bautista (left) with the Spirit of the United Nations Award. Rev. Bautista is the United Methodist representative to the non-goverment organizations unit of the United Nations. (Photo Courtesy of Church and Society)
NEW YORK—The Rev. Dr. Liberato “Levi” C. Bautista, Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs at the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, was honored with the 2025 Spirit of the United Nations Award in the Non-government Organization (NGO) category. The award was presented during a ceremony held on October 23, 2025, at the Tillman Chapel in the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.
The Spirit of the United Nations Award honors individuals whose lives and work embody the founding vision and spiritual values of the United Nations. Organized by the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values, and Global Concerns (CSVGC-NY), the award recognizes outstanding contributions across four categories: Diplomat, UN Secretariat, NGO, and Youth.
The ceremony brought together diplomats, UN-affiliated representatives, and civil society leaders to celebrate the Spirit of the United Nations. Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former Under-Secretary-General, Founder of the Global Movement for the Culture of Peace, and the first recipient of the SUNA Award in 2007, offered remarks. The program also included a reflection marking the UN’s 80th anniversary and music performances.
A visionary advocate for justice and human dignity
The award recognizes Bautista’s extraordinary leadership spanning 45 years in civil society, including 28 years representing The United Methodist Church at the United Nations.
The Rev. Denise Scotto, Esq., Vice President and NGO Representative of the International Federation of Women in Legal Careers and the 2024 SUNA recipient, presented the award to Bautista, describing him as an “outstanding leader, strategic advocate, skillful diplomat, and man of strong faith and conviction.”
Serving as President of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO) from 2008 to 2011 and again since 2018, Bautista is one of only two presidents in the organization’s 77-year history to serve non-consecutive terms, and the only president to be elected to a third term.
“This special recognition isn’t just mine—it belongs to everyone who passionately works toward justice, peace, and human dignity,” Bautista said in his acceptance speech.
Bautista continued, “being recognized by a committee of peers who highly value divine essence, inner wisdom, and the oneness of life calls us into greater accountability. It urges us to ensure that our work in multilateral spaces is not only strategic but also spiritual, that our diplomacy is both practical and ethical, and that our advocacy is not only bold but compassionate.”
Throughout his career, Bautista’s work has taken him to more than 80 countries, where he has taught, lectured, written statements, and published extensively on multilateralism, ethics, human rights, ecumenical and interfaith cooperation, and social transformation.
United Methodists at the UN: Continuing a tradition of faith in action
Bautista’s years of advocacy at the United Nations build on a longstanding Methodist connection to the UN. The first General Assembly convened in 1946 at London’s Methodist Central Hall, a space built by British Methodists as both a sanctuary and a public forum for civic life.
Today, through the United Methodist presence at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York, Bautista leads the denomination’s ongoing advocacy for peace and justice, offering moral perspective and insight on the world’s most pressing issues at the heart of global diplomacy—the United Nations.
The General Board of Church and Society is the social justice and public witness agency of The United Methodist Church. GBCS equips people of faith to live out the Church’s Social Principles and engage in faithful advocacy for peace, justice, and liberation.
GBCS provides its advocacy effort through offices on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. and in NYC across from the United Nations.
For more information about GBCS’s work at the United Nations, visit Church and Society’s United Nations and International Affairs page.