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Nomen est omen – the big white hall right next to the entrance really lived up to its name as a Networking Zone during the assembly. Here, there were times of colorful confusion, laughter, concentrated listening, and relaxed tranquility on the sidelines of a program that was filled to the brim. The Networking Zone was a source of strength for us at the Protestant Church in Switzerland, which was allowed to occupy a booth here as one of the host churches. This hall came to life only through the efforts of everyone at their booths: after getting their bearings, refueling with the best assembly coffee, some Ricola drops, and candies from the ACK, they were ready to keep going.

Reflections unfolding the 2022 Global Ecumenical Theological Institute theme and its sub-themes.

Our successful visit to Rome with various ecumenical deliberations itself testifies that ecumenical engagements can move forward despite the pandemic. The launch of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity document “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity,” followed by an ecumenical panel discussion, helped us to understand how different churches have approached the pandemic. 

The WCC’s Ecumenical Institute was inaugurated in 1946 at the scenic Château de Bossey, on Lake Geneva. It draws students from churches within and outside the WCC and enables direct contact with people of different faiths each year.

It was meaningful indeed to visit St Sebastian Church outside Colombo, and meet with survivors after the awful Easter bombings, Oslo bishop Kari Veiteberg from Church of Norway said.

At a meeting held in Paris, June 25-27, the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) restored formal relations after a hiatus of more than two decades.

Yesterday evening, I extracted some mustard seeds for you from a jar of “Moutarde à l’Ancienne” to show you how tiny they are. I also found a picture of a mustard plant to illustrate how big and sturdy the leaves become, once it’s grown.

Speakers at a seminar for teachers, university students and professionals from the Roman Catholic and Protestant church in Geneva underlined the importance of celebrating the sanctity of water in Christianity and also of advancing the human right to water through international advocacy.

Highschool students are searching their path through an exhibition titled "Peace takes a different way“. They stop in front of a mannequin representing a black woman dressed in white. They are reading on a roll-up about the struggle of Liberian women for peace.

Looking back on a week of grief. A week full of sorrow, tears, loss and anger.
A week of grief that began with the air disaster in Ethiopia, when the life of our colleague Rev. Norman Tendis was taken too early. A question that surfaces: Why? Why this air crash, involving leading climate experts on their way to the UN climate meeting in Nairobi? So many dead and missing. So much grief.

‘We call upon all the churches we represent to denounce antisemitism, no matter what its origin, as absolutely irreconcilable with the profession and practice of the Christian faith. Antisemitism is sin against God and man.’ This unambiguous WCC declaration in 1948 has been regularly re-stated over the last 70 years. In the same spirit, the annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is an opportunity to be welcomed. It focuses a widespread commitment not to forget the Holocaust of the Jewish people (while not excluding remembrance of other genocides) and to help prevent such atrocities in the future.

The festival of lights called Deepavali (or Diwali) in India is deeply connected with the idea of hope, aspiration and abundance. Deepavali is the celebration of victory that is promised to a person who leads a morally responsible life. It is a victory of justice, represented by the oil lamps that cast away the darkness of oppression.

For many Muslims the focus this month has really been praise: prayer, recitation of sacred texts, meditation and contemplation. Anything which nourishes my connection with the Divine.

Statistics about TB in children make shocking reading, especially because TB is preventable and curable. Religious leaders and faith communities have an opportunity to speak out and demand action is taken by their governments and by the international community.

I recently attended the conference on ‘Interreligious dialogue for peace: Promoting Peaceful coexistence and common citizenship’ organized by KAICIID in Vienna on the 26 and 27 of February. The conference brought together some high profile religious leaders (predominantly but not exclusively from the Christian and Muslim faiths) who spoke with a united voice for social cohesion, peaceful coexistence and respect for religious diversity.

The effects of certain types of experiences do not fade with time; rather they permeate deep into your existence to further broaden your understanding about the realities of life. For me the first Christian-Confucian Dialogue initiated by the World Council of Churches at South Korea was one such experience. It will stay with me for a long time and I will time travel back and forth from it to understand the complexities of inter-religious discussions.

Returning from another visit to Iraq alongside Carla Khijoyan, the World Council of Churches' Middle East programme executive, and Fr Emanuel Youkhana of the Christian Aid Programme Northern Iraq (CAPNI), many images fill my mind: images of destruction, and of life hesitantly picking up again. Many uncertainties remain, prompting us to bend our heads and raise our prayers to the Lord.

“Religion,” the American theologian Paul Tillich once said, “is the substance of culture and culture the form of religion.” This is particularly true of Hinduism, with the result that a religious dimension can be discerned in almost all of the festivals that originate in India. Diwali, the festival of lights, the most popular and widely celebrated Hindu festival, is no exception.

Summertime in the glorious outdoors… Are we ready to rest, confident we have been caring for the garden? A summer reading recommendation of faith-based analyses and hopeful witness.