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The possibility of a new economic framework is the chief focus of the newly published issue of The Ecumenical Review. Informed by years of ecumenical work on the relationship of poverty, wealth and ecology (including the proposal for a “greed line”), the 14 contributors offer an array of insights from specific contexts and religious standpoints – Dalits, South Africans, Latin Americans, Indigenous spirituality, feminist theology and non-Christian religions – into the values and structures that can create an “economy of life” for all.

Meeting from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the WCC has begun to define its principal trajectories for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly in 2020.

Bishop Mark MacDonald shared views on indigenous peoples and climate change in an interview with WCC Communications. "We are entering an era in which the public has a broader awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples," he said.

To promote strong measures against climate change, the WCC and the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights organized a side event to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

In the wake of the release of a summary report by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, member churches in Canada belonging to the WCC are beginning what they acknowledge will be a painful pilgrimage toward recognizing the mistreatment of their country’s indigenous peoples and ensuring such abuse will not happen again.

Amidst intimidation, illegal arrests, disappearances, torture and killings in Tanah Papua resulting from tensions between the Indonesian authorities and the Papuan pro-liberation groups, churches seek justice, peace, dignity and security for the Papuans.

Climate justice has been the focal point of the WCC advocacy strategy at 20th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which concluded on 12 December in Lima, Peru.

Indigenous peoples have a role to play in the struggle against climate change, indigenous faith leaders said during a panel at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.

While Bishop Sofie Petersen can talk convincingly about the science behind climate change, she'd rather talk about what's happening to the people in her home region of Greenland.

At the recent World Social Forum, ecumenical voices warned about the grave consequences of extraction of natural resources and mining, which they say generate a tremendous amount of social and ecological debt.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern about the alarming increase in threats to human security in Latin America. The committee has called for renewed efforts by churches to ensure peaceful and just societies.

Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples'€™ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.

How we understand God figures directly in how we treat our planet and its inhabitants, asserts a group of theologians in the newest issue of The Ecumenical Review.

A letter sent Friday from the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls on the Canadian government to “listen carefully” to the concerns of Canada’s Indigenous leaders.

The December 2012 issue of The Ecumenical Review , guest-edited by Deenabandhu Manchala, features reflections from marginalized communities on the theme of the upcoming World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th Assembly.

"Churches cannot challenge injustice if they cannot recognize its entrenched presence within the church itself,"€ reads a document by a working group of the World Council of Churches (WCC) programme on Just and Inclusive Communities.

South Africa, Australia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, French Polynesia (Maohi Nui), Pakistan, Syria and Myanmar have provided the subjects for statements and minutes of concern voiced by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) as part of public issues actions during a recent meeting of that governing body at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Kolympari, Greece.

"€œDiakonia is an essential ecclesial function. It must be prophetic and transformative. It cannot be opted only in convenient forms,"€ asserted participants of a World Council of Churches (WCC) conference, reflecting on "€œTheology of Diakonia for the 21st Century"€. The event took place from 2 to 6 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Transformative spiritualities and mission is a significant point of discussion at the pre-assembly event of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) which is currently under way in Manila. Transformative spiritualities are also one of the constituent themes of the CWME statement on mission and evangelism that will be presented to the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Korea in 2013. Dr Rico Palaca Ponce, academic director of the Institute of Spirituality in Asia based in Quezon City, the Philippines, gave an interview on the topic on 23 March.

Since 1982 there has been only one official statement of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on mission and evangelism. Now in 2012 the WCC's Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) is preparing another statement to invoke new understanding of mission and evangelism amidst changing world and ecclesial scenarios.