Robert S. Bilheimer

"Robert Bilheimer is well remembered within the WCC as one of the imaginative individuals whose faithful and creative spirit shaped the movement and actions of the Council in its early stage of development," wrote WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia to Mrs Dorothy Bilheimer on 18 January 2007.

Ecumenical patriarchate in Turkey offers hospitality to WCC officers

Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), on 15 December called the Church of Constantinople a "truly ecumenical church" whose ecumenism has been "tangibly manifested in her many historical initiatives".

German water rights campaign hands steering wheel over to WCC

The German Protestant aid agency Brot für die Welt has handed a steering wheel, symbol of its water campaign, over to the World Council of Churches (WCC), thus symbolically handing responsibility for this concern over to the WCC and a newly formed Ecumenical Water Network (EWN).

Brazilian churches end year-long Latin American focus on violence with exhibition on domestic violence

In a symbolic act of closure of the year that began with the first WCC assembly in Latin America, World Council of Churches central committee moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann visited an interactive exhibition on domestic violence in downtown Porto Alegre/Brazil.

Fiji: "No justification for military coups anywhere" says WCC head

Reacting to news of a military coup in Fiji, World Council of Churches (WCC) head Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has addressed WCC member churches there, saying that the coup is "in total disregard of democratic norms," violates the country's constitution and is "tantamount to suversion of the rule of law".

Writing to the Fiji Council of Churches and the Assembly of the Christian Churches in Fiji on 6 December, Kobia stresses that "In the 21st...

Wolfram Kistner 1923-2006

Writing to his widow on 5 December, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia characterized South African pastor Dr Wolfram Kistner as "a tireless champion for justice, equality and human dignity for all," and "one of the clearest voices, articulating biblically and theologically why we as Christians had to support the struggle against apartheid".

WCC mourns sudden death of Inger Aasa-Marklund

WCC leaders have expressed their profound grief on learning of the car accident that killed WCC executive committee member Inger Aasa-Marklund and her young daughter, Sara, on 24 November.

Kobia congratulates Lukas Vischer

"You have rendered an extraordinary service to the WCC and its member churches," WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia wrote on 23 November to Prof. Dr Lukas Vischer on the occasion of Vischer's 80th birthday.

World AIDS Day 1 December 2006

World AIDS Day is a unique moment each year when all of humanity is challenged to reflect on the way that HIV and AIDS affects us and how we can respond to the pandemic. The international theme for this year's World AIDS Day, "Keep the Promise", focuses on accountability and is a call to to hold leaders and communities accountable to the promises they have made. This includes commitments for funding and support, health programmes and access to...

ECLOF: 60 years of micro-credit for human development

One of the world's first international micro-credit institutions in the service of the poor is celebrating its 60th anniversary at a conference in Geneva this week. ECLOF, the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund, was founded in 1946 by leaders of the WCC and visionary bankers who sought to harness credit in the service of the most needy, and pioneered the system of micro-credit with the poor which today is recognised as one of the most important motors...