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In the aftermath of armed attacks by both the US and Iran, WCC reiterates its call for restraint and de-escalation of the confrontation.
“Further escalation and conflict between the United States and Iran can only serve short-term political interests, while threatening the permanent destruction of many lives, communities and precious cultural and environmental heritage,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. “I appeal to political leaders on all sides of this confrontation to put the interests of the people of the region ahead of their own interests, and to seek peace through dialogue and negotiation rather than confrontation.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned an attack on a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi´s home north of New York City, on 28 December, stabbing and wounding five people. Several state and local officials have described the location of stabbing as a synagogue.

Pan African Women of Faith will gather in Washington, DC from 13-15 November to advocate for global nutrition and to observe the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved African peoples to Jamestown, Virginia (USA).

Pan-African Women of Faith, Bread for the World, the World Council of Churches (WCC), Pan-African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network, Pan-African Diaspora Women’s Association, African Union, and All Africa Conference of Churches have announced plans for a November conference as well as the rollout of a social media campaign aimed at promoting profiles advocating justice and equity.

At an informal dialogue, faith leaders gathered with representatives from governments, civil society, academia, and the United Nations to talk about financing adaptation, and loss and damage, related to climate change.

Lors d’un dialogue informel, les leaders religieux ont rencontré des représentants des gouvernements, de la société civile, du monde universitaire et des Nations Unies pour discuter du financement de l’adaptation et des pertes et dommages liés au changement climatique.

Born in Nazareth, Galilee, Rev. Dr Saïd Ailabouni moved to the US at the age of 19 to become a physician. But he was so angry at God that he went to study theology instead, becoming a Lutheran pastor. Now he is leading the Middle East & Europe desk of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Since leaving his hometown 50 years ago, he visits his Palestinian family regularly. As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel approaches, Ailabouni agreed to share some of his lifetime observations with the Word Council of Churches.

Né à Nazareth, en Galilée, le pasteur Saïd Ailabouni a déménagé aux États-Unis à l’âge de 19 ans pour devenir médecin. Or, sa colère contre Dieu était telle qu’il a préféré suivre des études de théologie avant de devenir pasteur luthérien. Il est aujourd’hui à la tête du bureau pour le Moyen-Orient et l’Europe de l’Église évangélique luthérienne d’Amérique. Depuis qu’il a quitté sa terre natale, il y a 50 ans, il rend régulièrement visite à ses proches en Palestine. Alors que la Semaine mondiale pour la paix en Palestine et Israël approche, le pasteur Ailabouni accepte de confier certaines de ses réflexions, égrenées au fil des ans, au Conseil œcuménique des Églises.

Salpy Eskidjian Weiderud, leader of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process, received an International Religious Freedom Award from the US Department of State on 17 July. She paused to speak with WCC Communication with a word about what has inspired her life’s work for peace.

Salpy Eskidjian Weiderud, leader of the Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process, has received an International Religious Freedom Award from the US Department of State. The awards “honor extraordinary advocates of religious freedom from around the world” and will be presented on 17 July in Washington, D.C.

Salpy Eskidjian Weiderud, responsable du Religious Track of the Cyprus Peace Process (RTCYPP, Suivi religieux du processus de paix à Chypre), a reçu le Prix international de la liberté de la presse du Département d’État américain. Le prix «honore les défenseurs et défenseuses extraordinaires de la liberté religieuse dans le monde entier» et sera remis le 17 juillet à Washington, D.C.

Faith leaders across the USA released on 9 July a jointly signed statement entitled “Back from the Brink: Faith leaders call for diplomacy, not war, with Iran.”

WCC News spoke to Rev. Douglas Leonard, coordinator of the Ecumenical United Nations Office and World Council of Churches (WCC) representative to the United Nations in New York, after attending a summit in Washington D.C. that brought together some 45 representatives of churches and faith-based organizations committed to developing an advocacy plan that responds to the current political situation in the Holy Land.

Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans and Reformed discern further steps towards deeper ecclesial communion and common witness during a consultation at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States from 26 to 28 March.

(LWF Communication) – An ecumenical prayer service in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, United States, marked the opening of a four-day consultation of five Christian World Communions discussing the historic importance of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) and its impact on the search for full, visible unity of the church.

(Communications, FLM) – Une célébration de prière œcuménique dans la basilique du Sacré-Cœur de l’université de Notre Dame en Indiana, aux États-Unis, a marqué l’ouverture d’un colloque de quatre jours pendant lesquels cinq communions chrétiennes mondiales vont discuter de l’importance historique de la Déclaration commune sur la justification par la foi (DCJF) et de son rôle dans la recherche d’une unité entière et visible de l’Église.

After a visit to Israel and Palestine on 21 February through 1 March, a delegation of South African and African-American church leaders, released a Group Pilgrimage Statement on Israel and Palestine.

“Financing for sustainable development represents the expression of an ethic of solidarity and sharing, including with generations that come after us and who will inherit whatever good or evil we have wrought”, said Peter Prove, director of International Affairs at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a symposium at the United Nations headquarters, in New York, on 29 January.

«Le financement du développement durable représente l’expression d’une éthique de la solidarité et du partage, y compris avec les générations qui nous succéderont et qui hériteront de ce que nous aurons fait, en bien ou en mal», a déclaré Peter Prove, directeur des Affaires internationales au Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) lors d’un symposium organisé le 29 janvier au siège des Nations Unies (ONU) à New York.

The life of Rev. Dr Rena Joyce Weller Karefa-Smart is being remembered and commended this week by the WCC fellowship after her passing last week. Karefa-Smart was the first Pan African woman to graduate in 1945 from Yale Divinity School. She was a champion for global ecumenism over the course of a long and distinguished career. An attendee of the first WCC Assembly, she was also a procession leader and author of the liturgies at the second WCC Assembly in Evanston, Illinois (USA).