Faith healing and spiritual cures have always been part of the church's ministry. But to many, they smack of magic, of mystical claims of "impossible cures", deeply foreign to "Western" patterns of religion. Conversely, those patterns are sometimes seen as dry fruits of aging churches which have lost contact with the living source of healing power. In the midst of this tension, the world's greatest modern pandemic,...

A seminar on the responsibility of the UN for human rights in Iraq, to be held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on Tuesday 22 March 2005 (13:00-16:00), will focus on the norms and principles that should apply to the situation in Iraq, and facilitate a dialogue on the responsibilities of the international community and UN human rights machinery.

"It is nice to see how the money for aid to Africa comes from ordinary people," said Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, while going door to door in the snowy streets of Copenhagen. "Some Africans rather associate help from Europe with big organizations and states." During his first visit to Denmark as WCC general secretary, Kobia lent a helping hand to the DanChurchAid Lenten appeal.

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In an age when many studies suggest younger generations are showing less interest in denominational affiliations and church institutions, a group of 27 young adults spent more than two weeks immersed in the work of one of the world's largest ecumenical bodies, the World Council of Churches (WCC).

A new group of 12 "ecumenical accompaniers" last week joined four others staying on in Israel and Palestine from previous groups within the framework of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The new arrivals bring the total number of ecumenical accompaniers now on the ground to 16.

Dean Anders Gadegaard of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central and executive committees, and moderator of its finance committee. In an interview near the conclusion of the Council's 15-22 February central committee meeting, he shared his thoughts on the journey of the central committee and the WCC over the past seven years since the last assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe:

"2005"

As part of an underlying shift of culture, the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee has adjusted its rules and adopted a consensus decision-making model. The move promises to strengthen the participation and commitment of member churches, going well beyond the original concern that started the process of change.

Church representatives have outlined an extensive reshaping and streamlining of the activity of the World Council of Churches (WCC), to better equip the global Christian body for a "fast-changing" world context and new patterns of church life.