Residents of near and far gathered in a small village of Bărbătești in Romania to celebrate the consecration of a new Orthodox church, a significant sign of hope in the region recently confronted with economic emigration.
During the recent solidarity visit to Ukraine, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation was welcomed at the Banchen monastery in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine, witnessing its active involvement supporting and sheltering victims of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca visited Syria, alongside the Middle East Council of Churches secretary general Dr Michel Abs, the general secretary of ACT Alliance Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, and WCC senior advisor on peace building Michel Nseir.
From the gateway to the eastern Mediterranean and its pearl, Beirut, an ecumenical delegation came to the Middle East in order to visit spiritual leaders who historically constituted the pillars of ecumenical work.
Rev. Prof. Dr Heike Springhart is bishop of Landeskirche in Baden. Below, she offers reflections on her hopes for the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly and, more broadly, how ecumenical relationships can help us all sustain a sense of hope during these challenging times.
As a six-year-old boy, Abu El Walid Dajani began helping his father manage the New Imperial Hotel near Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem. The historic property is owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, and leased before 1967 to the Dajani family to run as a hotel. Now 77, Dajani has become the manager. But the threat of eviction is derailing a way of life his family has known for generations.
Oberkirchenrat Dr Marc Witzenbacher serves as coordinator of the local office of the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe. In this interview, he shares how the city is preparing to welcome visitors from all over the world.
Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber of the Evangelical Church in Germany, a member of the WCC central committee, reflects below on her hopes and prayers as the assembly draws ever-closer.
On 20 May 2022, a group of us, 14 pilgrims from different parts of the world (Kenya, Brussels, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Poland, Rome, Korea, Canada, Fiji, Australia, London, Scotland, and Geneva—a very diverse group) gathered in Palermo, Italy for a Pilgrim Team Visit on the theme of migration.
Sharing the concerns of World Council of Churches (WCC) Lutheran member churches around the world, a Lutheran confessional meeting took place during the recent central committee meeting at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva.
Dr Elizabeth Joy was the first woman ever to be shortlisted as a nominee for the general secretary of the World Council of Churches. A director at Churches Together in England, she is from the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. She grew up in both India and the United Kingdom. Below, during an interview held the day after the WCC elections, she reflects on her roots in the ecumenical movement, and on her message to the WCC.
Fabian Corralles has a vision of giving people with disabilities “their first opportunities to be much more important than they feel they are in their church and community.” He’s envisioning that scenario taking place at the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network pre-assembly being held before the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.
After the recent war and its impact on the whole of Armenia and particularly in the region of Artsakh/Nagorno Karabakh, some pilgrims from the fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC) visited Armenia from 27 May to June 1.
From 31 May to 3 June, representatives from the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group, Working Group on Climate Change, and the Young People in the Ecumenical Movement of the World Council of Churches formed a Pilgrim Team Visit to indigenous Sami communities in the south of Norway.
Um Ismail, in her 50s, loves her children fiercely and wholly, as mothers do all over the globe. But for Um Ismail, who lives in the Khan Al-Ahmar Bedouin community, finding enough water for her ten children plunges the family daily into near catastrophe.
As the World Council of Churches’ first substantial digital publication and its largest free collection, the Faith and Order Papers open a new frontier for scholars, ecumenists, and anyone interested in traversing the twists and turns of the path towards Christian unity.
An interfaith statement developed at Stockholm+50, “Faith Values and Reach - Contribution to Environmental Policy,” was signed by representatives of various faith-based organizations and Indigenous cultures across the world, including the World Council of Churches, and directed to the governments, UN entities, civil society, and all stakeholders of the “Stockholm+50” processes.
The Central Mediterranean route is the overseas crossing from North Africa to Italy. Those migrating on this route generally aim to reach Italian shores but leave from a variety of North African countries bordering the Mediterranean. Though in past years most migrants have departed from Libya, which is a destination for migrants as well as a transit country, there is also a proportionally small but growing number of departures from Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria.
With the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly less than four months away, anticipation for the historic gathering of faith and fellowship is growing.
