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In many countries, national elections can provoke tension and uncertainty. Nigeria is no exception. The elections, originally scheduled for the middle of February, have now been postponed to 28 March, partly as a result of the security situation.

The WCC has strongly condemned the latest attacks and atrocities reported to have been committed by the so-called “Islamic State” against Christians in Syria.

“With governments spending record sums on arms, the world desperately needs a multilateral negotiating forum dedicated to disarmament,” said Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

The acting general secretary of the WCC Georges Lemopoulos has congratulated Rev. Dr Andrea Zaki Stephanous on becoming the new president of the Evangelical community in Egypt.

A resource book titled Jamaica Praying: a manual for HIV and AIDS sensitive liturgies and sermons was launched last week by the United Theological College of the West Indies. The resource aims to equip church workers to offer a sensitive response to people affected by the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

The idea that HIV is present in the life of every human being, regardless of their susceptibility to the disease, could be seen as shocking. It could even be offensive.

An ecumenical workshop held recently in Matanzas, Cuba strongly promoted life-affirming epistemologies that can help to envision and construct alternatives to inequitable and destructive socio-economic systems that prevail in today’s world.

Violence perpetrated in the name of religion was highlighted as “a defining issue of our generation” by Canon David Porter when he spoke to members of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the WCC.

In a letter to the Bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov Jakobsen, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed his deep concern on the acts of terror that have hit the Nordic countries again. “You and your people are in my and our prayers these days. Your church has a strong voice for justice and for peace, for living together in the mystery and gift of creation as human beings,” he writes.

In an interfaith dialogue on human dignity and human sexuality organized by the Church of Sweden, the WCC president for Europe has stressed the significance of engaging in dialogue on this topic.

The WCC has joined its member churches, partners and people in Egypt as they mourn the killings of 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) militants in Libya.

The WCC has congratulated Rev. Dr Carlos Emilio Ham on becoming president of the Matanzas Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cuba. Ham, a pastor of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, served the WCC as programme executive in various areas from 2001 to 2013.

In a statement issued on 13 February, the WCC has welcomed the ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine negotiated in Minsk and announced yesterday.

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan’s diocese of Wau has developed a course titled “Reconcile - Moving Forward in Peace”, inviting people to be peace-builders this Lenten season.

The WCC has extended congratulations former staff members Mathews George Chunakara and Young-Cheol Cheon who have been appointed to new positions leading two ecumenical organizations in Asia.

The WCC mourns the death of Leopoldo J. Niilus, former director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), renowned lawyer, peace negotiator and author of several writings on human rights and international affairs.

With aspirations to learn and contribute to the work of the WCC inter-religious dialogue and cooperation department, Matias Ikkala from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has commenced working this week as a WCC intern.

The WCC has congratulated Urmas Viilma on becoming the new archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Archbishop Viilma, a member of the WCC Central Committee, was consecrated in his new position in a ceremony held in Tallinn, Estonia on 2 February.

An influential document full of hopes and aspirations, having received worldwide acclaim for highlighting the struggle of Palestinians against oppressive Israeli occupation, continues to seek a future after its fifth anniversary was celebrated in December last year.

A court decision in the Dominican Republic annulling the citizenship of an estimated 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian ancestry has been strongly criticized by church leaders, including the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.