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When Stephen Sidorak speaks about “A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Japan on a Matter of Life and Death” his voice rings with passion, commitment and regret along with a yearning that nuclear weapons must never be used in anger again.

Two major crises have marked the months since the WCC called Katalina Tahaafe-Williams to work in Geneva on its migration, indigenous, and multicultural ministry programmes. When she took up the job in October, the European refugee crisis was in full flow. Then in November, terrorists attacked Paris.

To promote open discussions on the theological and practical discourse, narrative and experiences on implications for the work of the multi-religious organizations on religion, violence and extremism, the WCC, along with the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists held a Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs.

Following the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the WCC is calling on all parties involved in the current situation on the Korean peninsula – especially South Korea, North Korea, the USA, Japan and China – to “invest in initiatives to reduce tensions, to promote dialogue and to encourage negotiations for an end to the suspended state of war, and for peaceful co-existence on the Korean peninsula, rather than measures that increase the risk of catastrophic conflict“, according to WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Mitten im wachsenden Klima der Angst vor Flüchtlingen und Immigrierenden appelliert der ÖRK an Christen, der biblischen Aufforderung getreu „Fremde willkommen zu heißen“.

In the midst of a mounting climate of fear of refugees and immigrants, the WCC is calling on Christians to be true to the Biblical imperative to “welcome the stranger”.

Fast 60 Teilnehmende kamen vom 29. Oktober bis 2. November in Nashville, Tennessee (USA) auf der Nordamerikanischen Evangelisationskonferenz unter dem Motto „Evangelisation zurückgewinnen“ zusammen. Die Konferenz wurde vom ÖRK und dem Nationalen Kirchenrat der USA in Konsultation mit dem Kanadischen Kirchenrat organisiert; Gastgeberin war die US-amerikanische Organisation für Jüngerschaft der Evangelisch-Methodistischen Kirche.

Nearly 60 participants gathered to reflect on the theme “Reclaim Evangelism!” at the North American 2015 Conference on Evangelism, held 29 October - 2 November in Nashville, Tennessee (U.S.). The conference was organized by the WCC and the NCCUSA, in consultation with the Canadian Council of Churches, and it was hosted by the Discipleship Ministries of the United Methodist Church.

An historic vote in Canada has set the stage for close cooperation between two North American churches.

Seventy years after nuclear fireballs exploded over two Japanese cities, an ecumenical group of pilgrims has come to Hiroshima to listen to those who survived and renew the struggle against their own countries’ continued reliance on nuclear weapons.

Kirchenleitende aus sieben Ländern, die derzeit historische Entscheidungen für oder gegen die Ächtung von Atomwaffen treffen, werden Anfang August zu einer Pilgereise in zwei japanische Städte aufbrechen, die vor 70 Jahren durch Atombomben dezimiert wurden.

Church leaders from seven countries currently making historic choices for or against outlawing nuclear weapons will embark on a pilgrimage in early August to the two Japanese cities that were decimated by atomic bombs 70 years ago.

„Wir leben in einer Zeit, in der die Öffentlichkeit ein größeres Bewusstsein für die Rechte indigener Völker entwickelt“, sagte Bischof Mark MacDonald, ÖRK-Präsident für Nordamerika und Nationaler Indigener Bischof der Anglikanischen Kirche von Kanada.

Bishop Mark MacDonald shared views on indigenous peoples and climate change in an interview with WCC Communications. "We are entering an era in which the public has a broader awareness of the rights of indigenous peoples," he said.

The WCC has condemned the mass killing at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, United States.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.

„Atomwaffen sind mit den Werten unserer jeweiligen Glaubenstraditionen unvereinbar“, sagten Vertreterinnen und Vertreter von etwa 50 christlichen, buddhistischen, muslimischen und jüdischen Organisationen am 1. Mai. Die interreligiöse Erklärung wurde als gemeinsamer Aufruf an die 191 Regierungen gerichtet, die dem weltweit größten Abrüstungsabkommen angehören. Der Aufruf, mitgetragen vom ÖRK, wurde an der Konferenz zur Überprüfung des Vertrags über die Nichtverbreitung von Kernwaffen in New York im Rahmen von Referaten der Zivilgesellschaft gemacht.

“Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the values upheld by our respective faith traditions”, representatives of some 50 Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish organizations said on 1 May. The inter-religious statement came in a joint call to the 191 governments participating in the world’s largest disarmament treaty. The call, co-sponsored by the WCC, was made during civil society presentations to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York City.

Ein Gerichtsurteil in der Dominikanischen Republik, das geschätzten 200'000 Dominikaner/innen haitianischer Abstammung die Staatsbürgerschaft aberkennt, wurde von Kirchenleitenden scharf kritisiert, so auch von der Leitenden Bischöfin der Bischöflichen Kirche in den Vereinigten Staaten.

A court decision in the Dominican Republic annulling the citizenship of an estimated 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian ancestry has been strongly criticized by church leaders, including the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.