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As South Sudan joined the world in celebrating the International Day of Peace, the country’s church leaders urged speedy implementation of a key peace pact known as the Revitalised - Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.

In Cameroon, hundreds of people are praying for peace, and they are also singing, dancing, marching, and listening to reflections led by people of faith who are calling for a ceasefire — now.

In a letter to UN officials, the World Council of Churches (WCC) urges an end to violence and the violation of human rights in Cameroon.

After hearing about death threats against Nobel laureate Dr Denis Mukwege, physician director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged UN officials to call upon the government to ensure the protection of the life of Mukwege.

Conflict has ingrained itself in the people of Mozambique for many decades from the days of Portuguese colonial rule, to the ensuing civil war which only ended this century, and now Daesh along with the unseen enemy of COVID-19. So, the churches have their hands full as peacemakers.

Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary, joined the South Sudan Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches in condemning recent violent killings of innocent people in South Sudan, and called to an end to brutality in the country.

In a joint letter, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance urged the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, to protect lives, property and livelihoods from increasing violence in the country.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with an estimated 210 million people, has a distinctive mix of people with almost equal numbers of Christians and Muslims, most of whom get on, living their normal lives intertwined in peace, except when terror strikes.

Throughout 2020, the World Council of Churches (WCC), together with the National Council of Churches in Korea, has been observing a Global Prayer Campaign,“We Pray, Peace Now, End the War.” As part of the campaign, the WCC is sharing personal stories and interviews that inspire others to work for peace. The story below features the perspective of U.S. war veterans, all of whom are also featured in video interviews.

August 2020 will mark 75 years since the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - attacks which devastated those cities and killed or injured several hundred thousands of people. Many more suffered for years afterwards, from having been exposed to the deadly radiation released into the air and water on those days.

A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War was publicly delivered on 22 June during a live-streamed event. Co-sponsored by churches and councils of churches around the world, especially from countries that participated in the Korean War, the message describes the Korean War as an “appallingly destructive conflict” after which no peace treaty was ever concluded.

The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians published a statement entitled “Mama, Mama…I Can’t Breathe!” that expresses heartbreak over the death of George Floyd at the hands of a policeman.

“Floyd pleaded for his life to no avail until he finally succumbed to death,” reads the statement. “The community has been pleading, ‘Black Lives Matter.’ ”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned violence, racism and police brutality in the US, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who was unarmed, at the hands of a police officer.

In a joint letter to church leaders in Burundi, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches expressed solidarity as the nation prepares for its 20 May elections.

In a message about the current security situation in Sierra Leone, representatives of the Christian community urged the political chaos be addressed immediately, even as the nation tries to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The National Council of Churches (USA) has joined with other humanitarian and human rights organizations in writing the US Congress to urge that obstacles keeping nongovernmental organizations from addressing the “devastating potential for COVID-19’s spread” within the nation of North Korea be removed.

The All Africa Conference of Churches joined many across the world in expressing shock and dismay at remarks from two French scientists during a live interview on the French television channel LCI, suggesting that Africa should be the testing ground for treatment for the coronavirus.

In a joint letter to US president Donald Trump, the World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, and National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA have urged the US to lift crippling sanctions against Iran that are greatly impeding response in that nation to COVID-19.

In a letter to the South Sudan Council of Churches and member churches in South Sudan, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit conveyed the WCC’s great relief and gratitude to God that the long-delayed establishment of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity in South Sudan was finally achieved on 22 February.

South Sudanese church leaders have welcomed a new cabinet, which the country’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit announced on 12 March.

The unveiling of the cabinet ended months of anxious waiting for a new unity government which was mandated by a 2018 peace pact, known as the Revitalised Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. The government has 34 ministers and 10 deputies.