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After a meeting with Ricardo Patiño, minister of Foreign Affair, Trade and Integration of Ecuador, World Council of Churches (WCC) officials call the Yasuni Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) initiative of the Ecuador government a courageous model of development.

"Mental illnesses affect people of all ages, in all societies, from the boy soldier in Sierra Leone traumatized by years of bloody civil war, to the mother affected by HIV/AIDS. Therefore it is crucial for the churches to challenge the stigma attached to mental illness,"€ the Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik reminds the churches.

The last time a significant empirical study on the role and challenges of theological education in so-called mission fields was presented was during the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh.

The 200 th anniversary of the University of Oslo in Norway provides opportunities for celebration, reflection and assorted special events. On Tuesday 20 September 2011 the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, was featured in a series of presentations on justice, peace and the role of religion in global perspective.

While 2.2 billion of the world's population is children, churches both in South and North have often ignored children amidst God's ministries. Children's issues, their place in churches and children's rights in the world, all need a strong united Christian voice.

Remembering the thousands of people killed in the coordinated assault on 11 September 2001 in the United States of America, and its unfortunate consequences in Afghanistan and Iraq, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sends out a message honouring the victims, and promoting a culture of peace.

“The Pacific is a region that displays many warm and strong expressions of peace,’’ World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a speech to the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) 50th anniversary celebration held in Samoa this past week.

Christians and Muslims, together with leaders of other world religions, should cooperate in “rallying people to form alliances for peace and reconciliation with justice,” according to the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Tveit sent greetings on the occasion of the Islamic festival of Eid al Fitr (the end of Ramadan) in a letter to heads of Muslim religious communities throughout the world. Taking note of July’s violence in his native Norway that has brought Christians and Muslims closer, and the momentous events that continue to unfold in North Africa and the Middle East, Tveit called for continuing action toward justice and peace. Read the full text of the WCC general secretary's letter

Fifteen leaders of dioceses and national church bodies in Norway, among them all 12 bishops of the Church of Norway, joined in common prayer on Wednesday morning 17 August at the Ecumenical Centre chapel in Geneva, Switzerland. They were joined in this act of worship by members of the Norwegian congregation in Geneva and staff of many church-related agencies including the ACT Alliance, Conference of European Churches, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and World Council of Churches (WCC).

This past week the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, was quoted by the Associated Press concerning the situation in Norway.

by Theodore Gill (*)

"€œChristian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct"€, a five-page document on the conduct of mission "€œaccording to gospel principles", was released during a public presentation on Tuesday 28 June 2011 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Jorge Ramirez Reyna, president of Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Black Association for Human Rights Defense and Promotion, ASONEDH) in Peru, reflects on the issue of racism in his country and the role of the conference on the Violence of Racism in Latin America, which was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) 22-24 June in Managua, Nicaragua. He was interviewed by Sean Hawkey.

Church communication needs to be personal and authentic, and that is why it has traditionally been centred on face-to-face contacts.

The volatile and precarious situation of Christians in the Middle East was of deep concern to the members of the February 2011 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, and it will be highlighted in an upcoming conference on Christians in the Middle East to be held in Greece.

Making peace, as an integral part of the life of church mission and witness, has not been as common as one might think.

Sofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain rural areas before she was born in 1952.

Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, is home to more than 11,000 people, whose very existence, which at one time was tied to the ocean and its bounty, is now threatened by rising ocean water levels.

As peace advocates from around the world relayed heartrending stories of violence and oppression, they also expressed their ongoing hope that a movement of peace will prevail during the proceedings of the second day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) being held in Kingston, Jamaica.