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World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of the global fellowship, expressed grave concern regarding the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East following the first direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.

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. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC), in partnership with CAPNI and UFUQ, is reaffirming its ongoing commitment to fostering sustainable peace through justice and inclusive citizenship in Iraq. This reaffirmation follows successful completion of a project to revise national educational curricula, promoting inclusive education and pedagogy.

As a year of exceptional and increasing conflict draws to a close, and as we pray for peace for all in 2024, “that prospect seems nowhere more remote than for the suffering and traumatized people of Gaza,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay. 

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay said the WCC is “deeply disturbed” by reports of continuous assaults on the Armenian community and other Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on 8-14 November, released a statement that demands an immediate ceasefire, and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Palestine and Israel. 

Armenian people and churches urgently need “a generous international response to the humanitarian needs of the refugees who fled from Nagorno-Karabakh, especially vulnerable women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and those without any other means of support,” the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee stated during its meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is standing in solidarity with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which issued a statement on 31 October condemning the Israeli military’s bombardment of the Orthodox Cultural Center in the Tel Al Hawa neighborhood of Gaza.

In a letter to the European Union, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Conference of European Churches express grave concern for the situation in the Caucasus related to the exodus of almost the entire ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.

During a film screening at the World Council of Churches on 4 October, viewers got a deeper understanding of why Palestinians are about to lose one of the last green spaces left for them in the Bethlehem Governorate.

A World Council of Churches delegation led by general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has concluded its visit to Armenia after “witnessing dramatic events”.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation nearly reached the Lachin corridor on 19 September, the same day Azerbaijan launched attacks against Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) region.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation will visit the Armenian Apostolic Church on 18-22 September. The visit will include an audience with His Holiness Karekin II, the Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians.

On 28th August, during a visit with Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with those making efforts to lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by reopening the Lachin corridor.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on Azerbaijan for the immediate lifting of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, as more than 120,000 people—including 30,000 children—are suffering under an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.

Resources—including reflections, prayers, and more—are now available to help churches and all people of good will to observe the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel from 16-23 September 2023.