Search results

As more people face famine today than any time in modern history, the WCC together with the All Africa Conference of Churches and a range of faith-based partners and networks invite a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine on 21 May 2017, in response to the hunger crisis.

For most of the world’s newest nation, wracked by internal conflict, joy seems far away, and yet for Christians, Easter is still a time of hope. A recent message from the South Sudan Council of Churches says the Resurrection reminds us that even in this world there is “goodness and light with triumph”.

The Ecumenical Network of South Sudan (ENSS) - European Hub has expressed great concern about the “unprecedented crisis of violent conflicts, starvation death and displacement” that is “tearing apart” the nation of South Sudan.

For the general overseer of the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) there is trauma and hopelessness in his country, and the only institution that can offer hope at the moment is the church. “We are experiencing levels of violence we have never seen before,” says the bishop. “I talk as a church person, as a person who is involved in the situation every day, listening and hearing from both sides and the ordinary person in the street,” says quiet-spoken Dau, whose words carry a poignant power.

“She is HIV positive too. No need to inherit her late husband’s title deed. She will die soon and leave it anyway.”

These man’s thoughts during his brother’s funeral were used by Jane Ng’ang’a, national coordinator, International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV (INERELA+) Kenya Chapter, to push the debate on property and inheritance rights linked to HIV. The discussion was held during the 61st Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), on 16 March, at the headquarters of UNAIDS, in New York.

The South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) is appealing to the international community to provide immediate and large-scale humanitarian assistance, while calling on its warring parties to stop the fighting ravaging the country.

Representing the South Sudan Council of Churches, South Sudan’s religious leaders traveled to Rome on 26-30 October, meeting with Pope Francis on 27 October.

The World Council of Churches co-organised a discussion in Geneva on 28 September entitled “Rebuilding from below: The role of local civil society in South Sudan.”

The South Sudan Council of Churches released a message to a UN Security Council delegation on 3 September. As the nation is burdened by a “stigma of fear, insecurity and humanitarian suffering and trauma,” there is a loss of faith, confidence, hope and trust in the government’s promises, security forces, and freedom of speech and movement, the message states.

Interview with Fr James Oyet-Latansio (JOL), general secretary of the Christian Council in South Sudan and Mr Ferdinand von Habsburg-Lothringen (FHL), advisor on reconciliation, South Sudan Council of Churches

South Sudan is in crisis again. People are suffering. There is no food. The situation is very urgent, according to the latest news from church leaders in South Sudan, says Dr Nigussu Legesse, WCC programme executive for South Sudan.

With increasing violence and growing crowds of people seeking protection, urgent action and support from the ecumenical community is needed in South Sudan as the country teeters on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

“Statelessness renders people’s vulnerability to abuse and to denial of their rights invisible to national authorities. In this sense the right to a nationality is a threshold issue for access to protection of all other human rights - almost a 'right to have rights'”, said Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), following a regional training workshop on birth registration and gender discriminatory nationality laws in Africa, organized by the WCC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11–13 May.

The African continent bears witness to the tragic consequences of the manipulation of religion to incite violence. Yet it is also the home of untold instances of the power of religious leaders and actors to exert a positive influence, said panellists at an international meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today.

South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) leaders have in their Easter message reiterated a pledge no longer to simply make statements and stand idly by while their leaders ignore their advice in the quest for peace in their troubled nation.

"Securing peace for South Sudan". That is how Fr James Oyet Latansio describes today's main challenge for the South Sudan Council of Churches. Since he was appointed general secretary six months ago, he has been on a tireless journey, beating the drum for peace throughout his war-torn country.

Churches continue to play their role in peace building for South Sudan despite the dashed hopes of many in the world’s newest nation, the moderator of the WCC said at a regional meeting.

“The guns have to go silent, so that people have the time to reflect, heal and move forward toward a path of peace,” said Fr James Oyet Latansio, general secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches.

The South Sudan Council of Churches has encouraged all parties to the conflict to sign the “Proposed Compromise Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.”