As the latest set of World Council of Churches (WCC) ecumenical accompaniers left Palestine and Israel, ushering in a new set who will take the mantle, a handover ceremony brought heartfelt prayers for a just peace in the region.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of the global fellowship, extended greetings and wishes to Jewish people everywhere as they commemorate Passover.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended congratulations to Dr Francis Kuria Kagema, who was appointed as the new secretary general for the Religions for Peace World Council.
Rev. Prof. Dr Simone Sinn's international experience, gained through years of work at the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), has equipped her with a global perspective, preparing her to engage with different Christian traditions and other faiths in her new teaching post at the University of Muenster.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, in a letter to His Eminence Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr Ahmad el-Tayeb, extended joyous wishes to the entire Muslim community on Eid El Fitr.
Mount Zion, located just outside the current walls of the Old City, via Zion Gate, is of great importance to Christians because this is the area of Dormition Abbey, the Cenacle (the traditional spot for remembering the Last Supper and washing of the Apostles’ feet), and where the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the event of Pentecost.
On Palm Sunday, accompaniers from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel walked in the traditional procession, carrying messages of solidarity with Gaza Christians during an especially painful time.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published online new materials related to the 2024 WCC-EAPPI Easter Initiative: “Out of the darkness – Easter solidarity with the Holy Land.”
In an online conference organized by the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations on 5 March, the World Council of Churches (WCC) was represented among inter-religious voices bringing their concerns and sense of solidarity in the lead-up to International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on 8 March.
On the 2024 International Day of Human Fraternity, observed 5 February, special events—including the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity—focused on bridging divides and promoting a culture of peace.
Six ecumenical accompaniers have returned to Palestine and Israel, resuming in-person operations for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. Ecumenical accompaniers, who were evacuated beginning of October 2023, had been continuing their support and accompaniment online.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay marked 11 January as a “significant moment for justice and the rule of law,” as public hearings commenced in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on allegations against the State of Israel of violations of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Ministering to the needs of displaced people, most of them south of Gaza, the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches has a clear message to the world.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) supports a UN resolution, passed on 12 December 2023, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
The moment religious leaders from around 40 faith-based organisations worldwide agreed to keep defending the individual right to seek asylum during a gathering in Geneva marked a high point on the eve of the Global Refugee Forum, the world's biggest such international gathering.They met at a one-day event on 12 December at the World Council of Churches (WCC), chaired by an Armenian archbishop and a UN diplomat who was once a Turkish legislator.
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew addressed an assembly of religious leaders gathered at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Centre on 12 December—the day before the opening of the Global Refugee Forum.
In a message to the Global Refugee Forum released 12 December, faith-based leaders underscored their commitment to offering sanctuary for refugees as well defending their human rights.
Ecumenical accompaniers continue to document violations of human rights in Palestine and Israel, some of the latest being reported at a school in Masafer Yatta, and in Jerusalem affecting Armenian Christians.
At a Peace Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, hosted by the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) and the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, participated as a panel speaker during a session on ““Global Challenges and Perspective for Interfaith Action” on 21 November.
