World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay sent joyful greetings from the global fellowship to Cardinal-elect Pierrbattista Pizzaballa’s nomination by His Holiness Pope Francis.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is planning a year of activities in 2025 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, a key moment in the history of Christian faith and for the ecumenical journey today.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has remembered the contribution of the Rev. Dr Reinhard Groscurth, who served the council’s secretariat on Faith and Order, and was the editor of many publications on the ecumenical movement and church unity.
As part of the Barbados Gospelfest, Caribbean co-coordinator of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network Rev. Dr Gordon Cowans offered a public lecture on 22 May, exploring the theme “Touching Lives of Persons With Disability: Freed to Simply Be.”
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated in the southern hemisphere from 21-28 May. Below, Rev. Canon Michael Wallace, vicar for the Dunedin North Anglican Parish Te Pāriha o Ōtepoti ki te Raki, reflects on his hopes for observing the special week in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Churches in the southern hemisphere will observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 21-28 May, the week between Ascension and Pentecost. This year’s theme is “Do good; seek justice (Isaiah 1:17).”
The upcoming Barbados Gospelfest, set for 21-28 May, will express churches’ affirmation and celebration of persons with disabilities in musical and other creative ways.
Pastor Joachim Leberecht, from Herzogenrath/Germany, has won the international Menno Simons Sermon Award from the Center for Peace Church Theology (University of Hamburg) together with the Mennonite congregation Hamburg-Altona.
Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame was elected to chair the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is also a commissioner for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, as well as an active member of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order is convening for the last time with its current composition before a new commission takes its place.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order will convene for the last time with its current composition before the new commission takes its place.
The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) has published a “2023 Easter Prayer for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula”, an annual observance which carries special significance this year, 70 years after the Korean War ceasefire established by the 1953 Armistice Agreement.
During a Global Peace Prayer on 22 March, Christians across the world drew together to pray for peace in a broken world, and to listen to voices from people suffering in Ukraine and other conflict-ridden areas.
A Global Peace Prayer on 22 March will draw Christians together in hope for a better future. A communique from a prayer planning committee explained that Christians are called into prayer and advocacy for peace. “In a global context where war and violence abound, the practice of peace has become even more urgent,” reads the message.
At the St Andrew’s Presbyterian of Church East Africa in Nairobi, Judy Kihumba is the voice between the hearing and the deaf worlds in one of Kenya’s oldest churches.
World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended sincere birthday congratulations to Cardinal Walter Kasper, expressing gratitude for the cardinal’s tireless service for Christian unity, particularly for his leadership role in the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, World Council of Churches programme director for Unity and Mission, reflects below on mission, theology, and the making of a better world.
An Ash Wednesday Peace Prayer remembered many of the 115 ongoing armed conflicts around the world. Held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, the prayer also focused on God continuing to create new life from the ashes of injustice.