Search results

World Day of Health and the Veneration of the Holy Cross: two celebrations with significant meaning

This year, the World Day of Health, which is celebrated annually on 7 April, falls on the third Sunday of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church that is dedicated to the Veneration of the Holy Cross.

11 April 2024

Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas

July 2020: Volunteers from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, USA, prepare to help patients at a drive-thru testing site for COVID-19 at St. Luke Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Nashville. Teams from the United Methodist-related school offered testing at area churches on Saturdays.

WCC, WHO commemorate 50 years of collaboration

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are celebrating 50 years of collaboration. Their work together includes strategizing, publications, seminars, webinars, and responding to crises such as HIV, the Ebola outbreak, and COVID-19 pandemic.

04 April 2024

WCC commissioner Kevin Maina shares perspectives from UN Environment Assembly

Kevin Maina, a member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development and a representative of the Anglican communion, shares his experience as a participant of the United Nations Environment Assembly's sixth session (UNEA-6) in Kenya.

27 March 2024

WCC climate commission moderator: “Let us be the ones to show that there is a will”

Moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development Archbishop Rev. Julio Murray Thompson, in a WCC video interview, reflects on the challenges the commission is facing, how it will build partnerships, and ways in which it will involve young people.

07 March 2024

WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing will consider “the whole person”

In a World Council of Churches (WCC) video interview, moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas reflects on the direction of the commission, its vision for considering “the whole person,” and how it plans to involve young people.

07 March 2024

What can churches do to prevent modern slavery?

Jackline Makena Mutuma is a clergy with the Methodist Church in Kenya and a student at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, where her current research is related to the intersection of modern-day slavery and global warming. She was also recently elected as one of the vice moderators of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. In a WCC interview, she reflects on the urgent issue of preventing modern slavery.

22 February 2024

Ellyanne Chlystun-Githae Wanjiku at COP28

Ellyanne Chlystun-Githae Wanjiku to COP28: “listen more to children”

Ellyanne Chlystun-Githae Wanjiku is a 13-year-old climate champion from Kenya who is attending COP28.

13 December 2023

WCC webinar explores decolonizing beauty

With a close look at the “skin-whitening pandemic,” a 4 December webinar hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) explored the intersections of mission, gender, racism, and health.

11 December 2023

GEM School: a North Star of economic justice

On a recent morning walk right before dawn, I could still see the stars. I saw the Polaris Star, or North Star, which is the brightest star in its constellation. It reminded me of the Underground Railroad and the network of people in North America who led Black people from southern bondage to northern freedom by following the North Star.

25 September 2023

Rev. Dr Larry D. Pickens

Faith communities respond to climate crisis in Indonesia

In crowded urban neighborhoods and drought-plagued rural villages, Indonesians from all religious backgrounds are putting their faith into action.

25 July 2023

Eileen Peralta and her 12-year old daughter Erin, who has autism, sit on the step of their home in the Malate neighborhood of Manila. They're being visited by other members of Kaisahan ng Magulang at Anak na Maykapansanan (Kaisaka), a mothers' group that carries out community based rehabilitation with families which have members with disabilities.

Recognizing autism as a disability

As a parent of an autistic child, it is important for me not only to embrace and accept that my child has autism but also to raise awareness on autism. We are all called upon to champion acceptance, embrace, appreciate, and accept autistic people as valued members of the community.

25 July 2023

Ann Kioi

Mister, why are you wearing robes?

The stories that imprint and accompany us the most are not necessarily the ones spoken most eloquently or from an orator’s elaborate formulations, but every so often those emanating out of the mouths of babes.

20 July 2023

V. Rev. Fr Hrant Tahanian

Prof. Dr Fabien Revol expresses appreciation for WCC collaboration on eco-theology

Prof. Dr Fabien Revol, chair of the Ecumenical and Francophone Society on the Theology of Ecology and professor of theology at the Catholic University of Lyon, reflects below on the launch of the book "Penser les relations écologiques en théologie à l'ère de l'Anthropocène" ("Reflecting on Ecological Relations in Theology in the Anthropocene Era”), which is the fruit of a 2021 Theology of Ecology seminar organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the Francophone Society.

12 July 2023

Prayers focus on “Health for All”—and the deep role churches can play

During a prayer service on 3 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) focused on the theme for the upcoming World Health Day—“Health for All.”

05 April 2023

Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata: “God summons us to take action that is hope giving”

Below, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches (WCC) director of Public Witness and Diakonia, reflects on the relevance of ecumenical diakonia and public witness today.

16 March 2023

Honduras_Hawkey_World_Renew_drought_20140805_919

Overcoming obesity—more than changing one's behaviour; it is a matter of ensuring systemic justice!

We mark 4 March as World Obesity Day. Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a health risk. Obesity has more than tripled since 1975, and more than 1 billion people are obese in the world today.

04 March 2023

Masimba Kuchera

Participants in the Fridays for Future march in Glasgow, UK, 5 November 2021, during COP26.

Anglican Communion supports the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

According to the fifth mark of the Anglican Church's mission, the church aims to protect and renew the earth's creation and sustain it. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa environmental network is dedicated to helping churches and dioceses fulfill God's calling to be earth-keepers and to care for creation.

02 March 2023

Pandemic and pedagogy: what are the valuable lessons?

Rev. Prof. Dr Benjamin Simon, World Council of Churches programme executive for Ecumenical Theological Education, offered reflections after a December hybrid conference entitled “Theological Education: Pandemic and Pedagogy,” held at the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana. The conference was co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and Evangelische Mission Weltweit. The conference drew more than 80 participants from all over the world.

21 December 2022