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“Christianity in China” forms the theme of 14 articles published in the March 2015 issue of The Ecumenical Review, a quarterly journal of the WCC. According to guest editors Xiao Ping Sun and Dietrich Werner, “Although early issues of The Ecumenical Review devoted some attention to the developments in Chinese Christianity and the need for better understanding and dialogue, in recent years the journal has published few articles” describing expressions of faith in China.

The WCC and the Christian Conference of Asia are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic earthquake that has rocked central Nepal. Official reports confirm that at least 1800 people are known to have died in Nepal after the devastating 7.9 magnitude quake, making it the nation’s worst disaster in more than 80 years.

The WCC has taken a clear stand against recent violent attacks against migrants in South Africa, reaffirming churches’ positions against racist, ethnocentrist and xenophobic acts of violence.

The WCC remembers today, 24 April, the 1.5 million Armenian victims – children, women and men – who died 100 years ago.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), discussed the churches and peacemaking challenges during a meeting in Moscow 22 April with Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, and with Metropolitan Hilarion, chair of the Russian Orthodox Church’s department of external church relations. This is their second visit in the past year. There were two issues on the agenda: violence against Christian minorities and Ukraine.

The prospect of armed robots taking human lives, and whether to ban autonomous weapons before they are made, concentrated the minds of governmental and non-governmental delegates at a United Nations forum in Geneva in mid-April.

As part of churches’ on-going struggles for climate justice, the campaign Act Now for Climate Justice was launched at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland on Earth Day.

WCC member churches in Nigeria, represented through the Christian Council of Nigeria, have been actively engaged in observing the recent Nigerian elections, continuing its stated conviction that effective participation of Nigerians in the processes of governance is very important in shaping the nation’s future.

In a solidarity letter to Abune Mathias, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, a member church of the WCC, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the WCC general secretary expressed deep shock over the recent killing of more than 20 Ethiopian Christians in Libya by the so called Islamic State.

How do the many contemporary issues and challenges about gender relate to the newest conceptions of mission? Does mission as currently conceived help women, for example, or speak adequately to such widespread phenomena as gender-related violence? Is there a “gender imperative” for mission?

Together the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, the Conference of European Churches and the WCC grieve the drowning of hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean.

The WCC in collaboration with the South Sudan Council of Churches convened church leaders for a special consultation on the South Sudan Peace Process in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

At the funeral service of Rev. Dr Philip Potter on 16 April in Lübeck, Germany, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit described Potter’s life as “a pilgrimage of justice and peace.” He called Potter a pilgrim who moved forward with faith, hope and love.

The primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Rev. Dr Eliud Wabukala, in his message for Good Friday called for unity in order to defeat the terrorist threat faced by the country.

Leaders and representatives from the Cuban Council of Churches, the Latin American Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches USA and the WCC have spoken out together on the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.

Hanshin University in the Republic of Korea has awarded Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC the title of “Doctor honoris causa” for his ecumenical vision on unity, justice and peace.

A worship resource published by the Churches’ Network for Non-violence and the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children invites church leaders and Christian communities to help end corporal punishment of children. The Churches’ Network for Non-violence includes member churches of the WCC.

The WCC has joined over 30 leaders from major world religions and heads of global faith-based organizations today in launching a call to action to end extreme poverty by 2030, a goal shared with the World Bank Group.

The celebration marking 150 years of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan was called a “significant and dramatic” part of church history in Asia by Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

The newly chosen general secretary of the Anglican Communion, Rev. Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the bishop of Kaduna in Nigeria, has served on the WCC Central Committee and has worked with the Council on interfaith dialogue.