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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.

Speaking of the African Faith Leaders’ Statement on Financing for Development, issued following a side event at the 3rd United Nations Financing for Development Conference, Rev. Nicta Lubaale, general secretary of the Organization of African Instituted Churches, said, the key message from African faith communities is “respect Africa’s resources”.

Focusing on issues related to sexuality, gender based violence and HIV and AIDS, leaders from African churches and civil society organizations engaged in lively discussions at a WCC workshop in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

“Prolonged droughts coupled with sudden floods are the face of climate change in Ethiopia,” said Endeshaw Kassa of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Kassa was speaking at a side event at the 3rd United Nations Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Speaking about the place of taxation in development, taxation was called a “moral issue” by Rev. Suzanne Matale, general secretary of the Council of Churches in Zambia, during her participation at the 3rd United Nations Financing for Development Conference currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

When a WCC meeting on ecumenical HIV and AIDS response concluded last week in Limuru, Kenya, its message to the global HIV and AIDS community was terse: traditional ways of tackling the pandemic have failed.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, an initiative of the WCC, is calling churches and individuals to join in a world-wide “zero hunger” challenge.

A WCC group concluded a three-day meeting by acknowledging achievements that have been made in addressing HIV and AIDS.

A new report titled “Defeating AIDS–Advancing global health” was appreciated as a significant resource in encouraging an effective global AIDS response by Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, associate general secretary of the WCC.

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.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a challenge for governments but for all segments of society, including churches. In many African countries churches are an authority that people listen to – it is therefore crucial that churches help eliminate the pandemic,” said Rev. Dr Luciano Chanhelela Chianeque in an interview.

As head of policy at Christian Aid, a key member of the ACT Alliance, Alison Kelly has an eye on sustainable development in what is seen as the prophetic voice of the church, which has a busy year in 2015.

Humanity cannot ignore its responsibility for creation, the WCC general secretary, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, has stated in Stuttgart during the German Protestant Kirchentag.

An independent commission on international tax reform initiated by a coalition of organizations including the WCC is calling for an overhaul of the global taxation system to alleviate poverty in developing nations including the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Students who visit the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva are often from theological or similarly Bible-related sections of educational institutions, but not always. This year a group of secular students from a state university in the United States arrived at the WCC to tap into work related to its health and healing programme.

”Truly, I am in the household of God,” began WCC associate general secretary for public witness and diakonia Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri in her keynote speech today at the 14th Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, and Dr Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group, discussed possible collaborative actions to end extreme poverty during a meeting in Washington, D.C., on 4 May.

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 increasingly influential role of the financial sector, its impact on communities and their struggles toward a just financial system remained the focus of discussions in the workshops organized by the churches at the World Social Forum.

The social and ecological cost of expanding mineral exploration and extraction was highlighted by churches at the World Social Forum.