As World Immunization Week is observed from 24-30 April with the theme “Long Life for All,” the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its vaccine champions continue to support sharing accurate information about vaccines as well as access to vaccines across the globe.
On World Health Day, observed 7 April, the Christian Conference of Asia published a statement under the theme “Our Planet, Our Health” that calls for equating our health and wellbeing with our environment.
A webinar on science and religion showed that shifting away from the mainly curative health architecture could help church and church health institutions keep the crucial lessons learned from coronavirus pandemic mitigation.
Encouraging the WCC fellowship in its ongoing call to discipleship together, the WCC central committee commended to WCC member churches the document “Called to Transformation—Ecumenical Diakonia and Addendums.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee built momentum toward the WCC’s 11th Assembly by creating assembly committees, planning thematic plenaries, and detailing ecumenical conversations.
On 20 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca reflected on “The Pandemic, the World Council of Churches, and Global Health,” as part of a discussion hosted by the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of Angelicum University.
On 20 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca will serve as a panelist for “Ecumenism in a Time of Pandemic: From Crisis to Opportunity.”
As Norwegian Church Aid continued a digital visit with its global partners, leaders from the organization met with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to discuss creative responses to the world’s increasing needs, and the vital role of church leaders in those responses.
A compilation of the most-read stories published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) reveals a global fellowship focused on a better future even amid the grave challenges the world faced during 2021.
During a virtual press conference on 13 December, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined leaders from the global faith community in releasing a letter signed by 115 organizations, representing five world faith traditions, calling on World Trade Organization member countries to act before year’s end to waive Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights rules. The faith community spotlighted the moral necessity of increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
A 2 December webinar, “Building trust: religious leader's engagement in vaccine confidence,” highlighted the voices of global religious leaders who are listening with a keen ear in their communities—and leading by example.
An ecumenical prayer service on World AIDS Day, to be observed 1 December, will focus on the theme “Overcoming Inequalities With Justice and Love,” a special emphasis in the context of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which runs from 25 November until 10 December.
As the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee convened on 12 November—face-to-face for the first time in two years—the governing body began its deliberations with a sense of reimagining the future by tracing some positive trends and opportunities born out of the grief-filled COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting is taking place in a hybrid fashion at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute and on video conference.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted an interface conference on 13 October between the WCC, EKD, German Federal Foreign Office, Trans-Atlantic Network and Berlin-based diplomats to discuss the vital role that the WCC, churches and faith communities around the globe play in advancing people’s health and healing, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Religious and traditional leaders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) participated in online consultations on the SADC Model Law on gender-based violence.
Religious leaders in Tanzania, after attending a workshop on HIV, stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing, released a communique that urges further empowering of religious leaders with skills and information to combat HIV.
The Pacific Theological College has published “A COVID-19 Wellbeing Statement: Rethinking Health from a Theological and Pasifika Cultural Perspective.”
Pastor Godson Lawson Kpavuvu, president of the Methodist Church of Togo, is also chair of the International Reference Group of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme (WCC-EHAIA). Involved with WCC-EHAIA from the beginning, he reflects below on what it’s like to be, as he describes, “one of the veterans of the struggle.”
A high-level dialogue on urgent efforts by leading non-governmental organizations to sustain a global, multinational dialogue and cooperation amid the COVID-19 pandemic will take place on 30 August.
On Monday, 30 August, from 17:00 to 18:30 CEST, all media are invited to learn more about urgent efforts by leading NGOs and other organizations to sustain a global, multinational dialogue and cooperation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
