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Mozambican churches urge decisive government action on deadly armed conflict

As Mozambican churches respond to growing humanitarian challenges in the country, their leaders are urging the government to act decisively to end a violent conflict in the north which has left behind a trail of death, destruction and displacement.

27 April 2021

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed 9 April 1945...

Who am I?

Bonhoeffer remembrance, April 2005

Ezek. 37:1-16, based on a Lenten devotional poem from prison

Theodore Gill, Ecumenical Centre Chapel, Geneva, on the 60th anniversary of Bonhoeffer's death.

09 April 2021

Theodore Gill

A young female student in the general nursing programme of the he Roma College of Nursing, Lesotho.

African Churches mark International Women’s Day

As African churches joined the rest of the world in marking International Women’s Day, pastors, gender experts and activists called for a critical evaluation and strengthening systems to ensure gender justice and equality in churches and society.

09 March 2021

COVID and the challenge of holistic humanity

While traveling from the border of South Sudan on a remote dirt road toward the Ugandan town of Kitgum, my companion and I were flagged down by two men. They were carrying their paralyzed friend to Kitgum Hospital and asked if we would give them a lift. Routine as the question may seem, the choice was not an easy one. The year was 2007, and while the Lord’s Resistance Army had been mainly cleared out, sympathizers remained, and picking up travelers was risky. Pietro, the South Sudan country director who was traveling with me, turned and said, “You’re the logistics officer, what do we do?”

05 March 2021

Francesco Paganini

Remembering Patrick Matsinkinyiri (27 July 1937 – 15 January 2021)

Patrick Matsikenyiri was born in Biriri, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and died in Mutare, Zimbabwe near his home village a few kilometers from the border of Mozambique, as a result of complications due to the COVID-19 virus. His career included virtually all aspects of church music — singing, choral directing, composition, hymnal editor, festival leader, professor, and enlivener of global songs in venues around the world.

26 February 2021

Terry Macarthur

Photo essay

Collage of some of the Week of Prayer pictures shared by Christians in different places

In pictures: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Prayers for unity took on a different look and feel this year, but they weren’t stopped by widespread restrictions on face-to-face gatherings. From prayer cards to personal reflections, online gatherings to new connections, the images worldwide convey the spiritual richness of an ecumenical family that came together in prayer.

01 February 2021

Youth participants lead a moment of prayer, through a dramatic choreography inviting gestures in interaction between the youth and other participants. Hundreds of people gather from across the world for an ecumenical prayer service at the Nieuwe Kerk, a 15th-century church in Amsterdam, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches at the very spot in which the organization was founded.

Rev. Dr David Emmanuel Goatley: “Pray that the Spirit will breath on the conversations”

A new weekly podcast series, “Pilgrimages of Striving and Thriving,” aims to draw wisdom from Black churches in the US through engaging conversations with pastoral leaders. The tone of the series, produced by Lott Carey, encourages transparency on how spiritual gifts interact with unique settings for ministry.

Below, Rev. Dr David Emmanuel Goatley, who cohosts the podcast, reflects on the path that led to the series, the response to the conversations so far, and hopes for future inspiration.

27 January 2021

Religious leaders speak out against violence at US Capitol: “Our democracy is under siege”

As mob violence took over the US Capitol on 6 January, churches in the USA spoke out against the threat against the integrity of democracy.

07 January 2021

Dr Agnes Abuom: “We pray that churches will recommit to the search for visible unity”

WCC News met online with Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches central committee, and she offers reflections on the impact of COVID-19, what gives her hope, and the future of the ecumenical movement.

17 December 2020

A girl walks towards her home in the Minawao camp for Nigerian refugees in the far north region of neighbouring Cameroon

For Nigerian churches and people, challenges came on many fronts in 2020

For the people of Nigeria, 2020 was a gruelling year as they faced the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing scourge of the extremist militant group Boko Haram, extrajudicial killings, and violent responses to popular protests against police brutality and other social and economic issues.

17 December 2020

Benaco Rwandese refugee camp in Ngara district, Tanzania

African faith leaders urged to redouble efforts against gender-based violence

As the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on what many are calling a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence, African faith leaders are amplifying their call for increased action for prevention and support for those affected.

01 December 2020

President of the Council of Protestant Churches in Cameroon

Cameroon conference on peace empowers religious leaders

A two-day conference in Buea, Cameroon, has empowered religious leaders to offer vital input into a peace plan in the divided nation. Rev. Samuel Fonki Forba, president of the Council of Protestant Churches in Cameroon, said that the conference helped religious leaders build their capacity in the area of peace.

30 November 2020

Religious leaders in troubled Cameroon encouraged to become 'diplomats of peace'

When a group of Cameroonian religious leaders from both English and French-speaking communities, both Christian and Muslim, met to discuss the crisis in the Anglophone western provinces of Cameroon, they committed themselves to being "diplomats of peace.”

27 November 2020

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde at the CCIA meeting in Brisbane, Australia

Perspective to END Special Anti-Robbery Squad protests in Nigeria

Nigerians, like the rest of the world, have had to battle the threat of COVID-19 since the beginning of the year 2020.

23 November 2020

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde

Cross on the church spire in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Church leaders call for peaceful settlement of Ethiopian conflict, as a humanitarian crisis threatens

Church leaders in Africa are continuing to call for a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in northern Ethiopia, as agencies warn of a humanitarian crisis in the region.

20 November 2020

At Effata school in Togo, students transform attitudes about gender-based violence

Through four years of collaboration with the Effata Secular School in Togo, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme has introduced students and teachers to Thursdays in Black, towards a world without rape and violence, helped them better respond to HIV, and offered a safe space to discuss responsible sexual and reproductive health.

13 November 2020