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With the welcoming sound of South African drums, the 58th meeting of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began this week in Johannesburg, reviewing the work of the commission between two WCC assemblies and discussing the churches’ engagement in critical issues of the world today.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed grave concern over the current state of emergency in Sudan. “Government officials, including ministers and civilian members of the Transitional Sovereign Council, have been arrested,” said WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca. “It has also been reported that at least seven people have been killed and some 140 others injured after soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.”

The WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) will meet on 2-6 November in Johannesburg and online, reviewing its work between the two WCC assemblies and preparing for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.

World Council of Churches (WCC) director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove presented, via video message, an intervention at an “International Ecumenical Solidarity Gathering for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines” held 7 October.

Religious and traditional leaders in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) participated in online consultations on the SADC Model Law on gender-based violence.

Religious leaders in Tanzania, after attending a workshop on HIV, stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing, released a communique that urges further empowering of religious leaders with skills and information to combat HIV.

A UNAIDS-PEPFAR faith-based initiative workshop, “Harnessing the Power of Partnerships,” started on 27 September in Tanzania with a focus on HIV stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing.

Churches and schools in South Sudan are providing shelter to displaced populations after floods—caused by early seasonal rainfall— submerged their homes and farmland.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed concern regarding the implications of a recent ruling of the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal reversing a judgement made in April that had declared the death penalty unconstitutional and ordered re-sentencing for all prisoners held on “death row.” This reversal effectively reinstates the death penalty in Malawi, and allows judges to resume its imposition.

Les éducateurs chrétiens et les autres responsables d’Églises au Togo tournent avec plaisir les pages d’une nouvelle ressource destinée aux enfants, un programme d’éducation intitulé «Parce que Dieu m’aime – Affirmer ma valeur en Christ», publié par le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE).

Christian educators and other church leaders in Togo are eagerly turning the pages of a new resource for children, a curriculum entitled “Because God Loves Me—Affirming My Value in Christ,” published by the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Dans l'État de Kaduna, au nord-ouest du Nigeria, les chrétiens font les frais de l'insécurité et de la violence. Des bandits s'attaquent aux maisons, aux villages et aux Églises, tuant des chrétiens et en enlevant d'autres pour obtenir une rançon.

La persécution religieuse, l'ambition territoriale et le nettoyage ethnique sont au cœur de la violence communautaire dans la région, où les communautés se sont installées en fonction de leur religion, selon le pasteur John Joseph Hayab, directeur national de la Global Peace Foundation (Fondation mondiale pour la paix) au Nigeria.

 

The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) are calling for justice for Memory Machaya, a 14-year-old who died while giving birth at the shrine of the Johanne Marange Apostolic Church.