“Take your stumbling-blocks, and turn them into stepping-stones.” This was the well-known personal byword of Christian statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate John R. Mott (1865-1955). Mott, a Methodist layman from the United States, was a key organizer of the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910.

Is it time to start work on banning nuclear weapons? “Yes” says a growing majority of governments and civil society groups. “No” insists a tiny nuclear-armed minority. “Premature” say some of their closest allies.

“Almost every family in Zambia is affected by HIV,” says Sarah Kaulule. A lay preacher in the United Church of Zambia, was interviewed at the Edinburgh 2010 conference on world Christianity (2-6 June) where she has come as a delegate.

Church ecumenical officers play a key role in the advancement of ecumenism at a time when resources are scarce and inward-looking tendencies thrive.

The international tug-of-war over carbon emission thresholds and other instruments meant to limit the deterioration of the earth's climate has caused a big stir in recent months, but yielded little results. Therefore the international community must now get ready to take care of those who will be forced from their homes by climate change.

As churches and church related organizations mobilize resources to bring immediate relief to the people of Port-au-Prince, they are also advocating for the international community to waive Haiti's foreign debt while building a more sustainable future for the country.

What does the Bible say about climate change? What are the theological insights churches can offer to a world facing an unprecedented ecological crisis? These questions, addressed at a public seminar on "Creation and the climate crisis" attended by church representatives to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen on 15 December, seem even more urgent after the summit’s failure to reach the fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement...

Why should religious people be involved in the climate change debate? And how should religious people, particularly Christians, view themselves in relation to the earth and God, the creator of the earth?

At an impressive ceremony which brought together a wide spectrum of Palestinian civil society, including church leaders, and over 50 people from every region of the world, Palestinian Christians launched the document popularly referred to as the Kairos Palestine Document.

Rows of neat suburban houses stand on the parched, barren hillside. A water tower looms over them, irrigating lush greenery in the gardens. But outside this West Bank settlement's perimeter fence sits the tiny Bedouin community of Umm Al Kher, whose residents are desperate for water.