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.
Iranian rector Ayatollah M. Seyyed Abolhassan Nawab and Ms Zahra Sedigh, from the Iranian Mission to the UN,visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 27 July, discussing education and formation, as well as the importance of strengthening the role of interreligious cooperation.
In pastoral letters to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and the Evangelical Church of Greece, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay conveyed sincere sympathies as wildfires raged across the land.
In April 2023, at Birkenhead, UK which is near Liverpool town, home to one of the world’s best football team (Liverpool) and where the best-ever pop group (Beatles) came from, Rev. John Naude, EDAN Europe coordinator was licensed as vicar to St Peter’s, Rock Ferry.
Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, Mission of Palestine to Switzerland; Ambassador Dr Omar Awadallah, assistant minister for United Nations and Specialized Organizations; and Doa Nofal, second secretary at the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 6 July to discuss the current situation in Palestine.
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.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay called for an end to the Israeli military’s assault in Jenin. The WCC condemns the assault and calls for the cessation of all violence in the West Bank including that from Israeli settlers.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) has remembered the contribution of the Rev. Dr Reinhard Groscurth, who served the council’s secretariat on Faith and Order, and was the editor of many publications on the ecumenical movement and church unity.
When Rev. Rita Famos became involved in the youth programmes of her local congregation in Bern, Switzerland, back in the early 1980s, a lifelong commitment to the Reformed Church and the ecumenical movement started to evolve.
World Council of Churches (WCC) president for Eastern Orthodox Churches Metropolitan Vasilios of Ammochostos has three-quarters of his diocese on the island of Cyprus under Turkish occupation, but no Christians are still living in the occupied part.
The WCC central committee expressed continuous concern about two significant territorial crises in the eastern Mediterranean: those within Palestine and Israel, and those within Cyprus. “These politically driven conflicts have resulted in illegal occupations that have spanned decades,” reads a minute released by the governing body.
“Hospitality is one of our main values,” said president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland Rev. Rita Famos as she welcomed members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee to a reception at the Ecumenical Centre on 23 June.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting brings great joy, its moderator said, as its 148 members met at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva to discuss the governance of one of the planet's most diverse fellowship of churches.
As a search continued for missing migrants after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Greece, the World Council of Churches (WCC) conveyed prayers to the families of victims, and to the churches in Greece and elsewhere that are responding.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, in partnership with the Portuguese Council of Churches, hosted a seminar in Lisbon, Portugal, on 5-9 June entitled “Making the last FIRST,” relating this theme to decolonization.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared greetings to the Conference of European Churches 16th General Assembly, taking place in Tallinn, Estonia under the theme “Under God’s blessing – shaping the future.”
As Bread for the World marked 70 years of service to the church and ecumenism through its interchurch scholarships programme, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay gave thanks for some 3,500 alumni and beneficiaries since 1952.
With the topics of the war in Ukraine and climate protection as the focal points, the 38th German Protestant Kirchentag takes place in Nuremberg, Germany from 7 to 11 June. The World Council of Churches’ presence in the Kirchentag’s exhibition space “Market of Opportunities” (hall 9, stand 9-C32) enables lively encounters and an opportunity to learn more about the ecumenical movement.
