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WCC 11th Assembly: safe and welcoming environment for all

Whether in the plenary hall, restaurant, prayer tent, or in different meeting places, delegates and participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly held from 31August to 8September in Karlsruhe, Germany would be greeted with a warm smile and the words “are you doing good?” by men and women in orange vests who formed the pastoral care and solidarity team. This was one of the ways that the assembly ensured a safe and welcoming environment.

Assembly workshop looked toward ending AIDS epidemic by 2030

At a workshop held at the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly, participants expressed grave concerns over the fact that, although public health experts warned about the dangers of ignoring other epidemiological efforts at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries had to reshuffle critical medical resources, thereby preventing routine treatment of HIV.

Christ’s Love (Re)moves Borders – GETI 2022 in images

GETI 2022, the third global iteration of a Global Ecumenical Theological Institute, brought together some 100 young theologians from across the globe for six weeks of intense ecumenical sharing and learning – first online for four weeks and then for two weeks in person onsite – as the World Council of Churches (WCC) recently gathered for its 11th assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Ukraine: Responding to humanitarian need

When the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, churches had already been responding to humanitarian need in the country for eight years, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.  The work being undertaken by churches in meeting the needs of those displaced by the war is not new, but the scale is staggering as 14 million people have been displaced in the six months since the invasion began.

Promoting human dignity through art

“Affirming justice and human dignity”  was the theme of the fourth thematic plenary of the World Council of Churches(WCC) 11th assembly on 6 September. The presentation featured a wheelchair dance performance by Fadi El Halabi, a wheelchair user and Ms. Karen Abi Nader, an international artist. In the freestyle dance, Halabi effortlessly spinned around his wheelchair and,  with slow coordinated moves together with his dance partner, threw hands in the air symbolizing the joy that can only be felt when all exclusionary and disempowerment practices in church and society are addressed.

Indigenous women struggle for identity in Asia and beyond

The contributions made by indigenous women in Asia to society and community often go unnoticed and unrecognized due to continued marginalization and discrimination in the region and beyond. Participants in a September 2 workshop at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th assembly heard that while gender equality is slowly gaining momentum globally, indigenous women are still struggling for their rights - first as women and second as indigenous women.

Choose the power of love: Pre-Assemblies deliver powerful calls

Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests —at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications —welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Oasis of Peace Opening Prayer

This multilingual volume will guide the opening prayer of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches on 31 August. In addition to the order of service it includes the text of the homily to be presented by John X Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and the youth testimony Ms Ann Jacob, United Methodist Church, USA.

A Hundred Years of Mission Cooperation

The Impact of the International Missionary Council 1921-2021

With its sister volume, this book is a must for anyone, academic, pastor, or mission practitioner, interested in knowing how Christianity was considerably expanded in the 20th century, through churches’ mission and missionary work, and was transformed into World (or Global) Christianity.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part contains the introduction—background reading for the reports of the study process produced by the IMC Centenary Study process. The second part of the book includes 13 regional reports. Contributions from all over the world analyse and evaluate the impact—or the absence thereof—of the IMC and the CWME from 1921 until today.

 

Together in the Mission of God

Jubilee Reflections on the International Missionary Council

What is so important in the International Missionary Council (IMC) and its historical successor, the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, that they will have their own centennial volume?

By reading this book, the reader will gain a better understanding of how important and crucial they have been in the development of the ecumenical movement and of what today is often called World Christianity.

This volume aims to highlight how, in the course of the past century, structured efforts to foster unity in mission cooperation have shaped not only Christianity but even the world.

Christ’s Love (Re)moves Borders

GETI 2022 Prayer Booklet

The spiritual life during GETI 2022 embodies the WCC ethos of holding spirituality and critical reflection together as parts of an integrated whole. In that regard, this Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) is envisioned as a holistic process encompassing formative and informative dimensions of learning. This prayer booklet contributes to holistic learning. It is a resource for spiritual life, a formative dimension of the GETI 2022 experience and learning. It illuminates the theme “Christ’s Love (Re)Moves Borders” liturgically. This, therefore, serves as a resource for (spi)ritual and prayerful reflection for all during the residential phase of the study process that was also anticipated during the online phase.

 

When He Saw the Crowds - Bible Studies

When He Saw the Crowds - Bible Studies 

Und da er das Volk sah - Bibelstudien 

Voyant les foules - Études bibliques 

Al ver las multitudes - Estudios bíblicos

The plenary Bible studies are an important aspect of the work of the assembly. They give participants an opportunity to meet daily around a Bible passage to reflect on the theme and the experience of the assembly. Participants can discern together God’s purposes for themselves and the ecumenical movement. They meet in groups which are small enough to allow everyone to contribute and large enough to give a range of perspectives. The Bible study sessions provide an opportunity for participants to explore the assembly theme together in the light of the biblical texts, knowledge, and experience. To be involved in group Bible study is to be open to one another, to the Bible passage and to the Holy Spirit. It is not to win an argument or to persuade others to a particular point of view. These sessions should be a place where the participants can integrate all they have heard and done in the assembly and discover together the possibilities of transformation that God offers us.

Oasis of Peace

Spiritual Life Resources

Oase des Friedens: Gottesdienstbuch

Oasis de paix: Ressources pour la vie spirituelle

Oasis de Paz: Recursos para la vida espiritual

This multilingual volume of spiritual life resources is meant to inspire the collective prayer and praise of participants at the WCC’s 11th Assembly, taking place in Karlsruhe, Germany, from 31 August to 8 September 2022, where Christians from around the world, the whole oikoumene, are uniting to rejoice in the love of God in Christ.

Resource Book

World Council of Churches 11th Assembly, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2022

This assembly Resource Book, a documentary collection published in four separate language editions, is meant to orient assembly delegates and participants to the assembly process, convey documents and reports upon which the assembly will act, and also link participants to a variety of important background documents about the many substantive matters that will engage the gathered fellowship there.

To that end, the Resource Book will function as a ready documentary reference and resource for assembly delegates as well as other participants.

On the ambiguities of border and our quest for unity today

In the world today, border is far from a neutral or natural notion. Depending on the context of interpretation, it evokes different thoughts and emotions. For some, it may recall an expensive wall of xenophobia. For others, it could mean a gateway to safety and refuge, or the relentless defense against hostile aggressors. As we ponder the theme “Christ’s love (re)moves borders,” we shall begin by asking: What are borders? At a time when world powers are trying to change borders by force, what does it mean for Christ’s love to (re)move borders? And, ultimately, how do we discern between ideological pacifism and true unity?

Borders and Migrants

On 20 May 2022, a group of us, 14 pilgrims from different parts of the world (Kenya, Brussels, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Poland, Rome, Korea, Canada, Fiji, Australia, London, Scotland, and Geneva—a very diverse group) gathered in Palermo, Italy for a Pilgrim Team Visit on the theme of migration.