In a presentation to a gathering of experts on religious freedom and religious rights of minorities, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said there must be respect for the “inherent rights of all human beings and their aspiration and rights of religious freedom should be important components to sustain tolerance among all God’s creation.”

Around 214 million people in the world are on the move, seeking livelihoods and security outside their home countries. To address this global phenomenon of multi-directional migration, and respond to the political, economic, ethical and ecclesiological challenges it poses, the WCC is organizing a regional conference in Lebanon from 5-7 December.

Two international actions to curb the potential use of cluster bombs and nuclear weapons have been welcomed by the WCC general secretary.

The first draft of a new mission statement for the WCC was at the centre of a 5-day meeting recently held by the 25-member Commission for World Mission and Evangelism on the campus of the University of Ghana.

The world has changed since 1958. In that year members of the International Missionary Council met in Achimota, Ghana and proposed to move their operation into the WCC, then one decade old.

“This is the only home we have,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu referring to the crucial significance of our planet and its survival. He was speaking in an interfaith rally in Durban, urging international leaders to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to address climate change effectively.

“We must continue to express our prophetic vision by reporting violation of human rights in God’s creation" said the Rev. Nilton Giese, general secretary of the Latin American Council of Churches, at a formation seminar on diakonia promoted by the WCC.

More than forty participants from diverse Christian backgrounds and coming from several Latin American countries, sought dynamic ways of ecumenical formation in diaconal work at a seminar which took place in Brazil from 21-24 November.

Churches in Canada addressed challenging questions, with a strong interfaith perspective, while responding to the document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Guidelines for Conduct” in an event held at the University of Toronto.

Considering climate change a “moral and spiritual crisis”, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit calls the COP17 United Nations conference on climate change a “last opportunity for the international community to be responsible in addressing climate change”.