Le COE est une communauté d'Eglises qui compte 349 membres de presque toutes les traditions chrétiennes dans plus de 110 pays sur tous les continents
Rima Barsoum joined the World Council of Churches as programme executive for Christian-Muslim relations in the program on Inter-Religious Dialogue and Cooperation on 1 July, 2007. She has been committed to the ecumenical movement and worked with youth groups in Syria and the Middle East since 1986.
She graduated from the University of Birmingham, UK with MPhil degree in Inter-Religious Relations. Before that, she was a student of the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey and previously had obtained a BSc. in Construction Management from the faculty of Civil Engineering - University of Aleppo, Syria. She worked as a Supervisor-engineer for four years.
Specialized in Christian-Muslim relations, Rima researched in the history and contemporary issues in inter-religious dialogue. Her research project focused on religion and politics in the Middle East, the role of religion in public life and the need for inter-religious collaboration between faith-groups, faith-based organizations and international organizations for development and sustainability in the region.
Between 2000-2004, Rima worked with the Middle East Council of Churches, MECC, as a National coordinator for the Youth Program and for the URM projects in Syria. She also worked with Iraqi refugees in Syria during and after the war on Iraq, and contributed to the peace making program for the Presbyterian Church - USA, as an International peace-maker in spring 2004. During this time, she planned and organized several national and regional seminars on issues related to young people in the Middle East and of common concerns in church and society, such as Ecumenical Formation, Youth and Globalization, Christian Presence and Witness in the Middle East, Christian-Muslim Dialogue, and Building the Culture of Peace and Acceptance.
Rima thinks inter-religious dialogue is not merely a contentious theological encounter but also a continuous witness of religious people working together in the modern world, carrying global responsibility for the common good. This implies that religious pluralism and co-human well-being must go together in a continuous awareness of “the religious Other and the suffering Other.”