Members of the Christian Council of Nigeria have adopted “Out of the Shadows,” a resource designed to end all forms of sexual violence against children.
Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata is general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. Below, he reflects on the negative impacts of a third wave of a COVID-19 in the nation, and what people most need.
Esther Linda Kwamboka works with the Bible when she counsels sex workers and long-distance truck drivers, and those with HIV and AIDS. She also offers support to those of different faiths.
South Sudan came into existence ten years ago this week, but there is little to celebrate for the world's newest nation, Rev. Fr James Oyet Latansio, general secretary of the South Sudan Council of Churches.
As children and women in Nigeria become targets of rising insecurity and violence, churches are moving to offer support to the victims, while amplifying their voice against the challenge, according to senior Christian women leaders in the West African nation.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca offers reflections upon receiving the Bridge Builder Award for building bridges of understanding between people, nations, and communities at national and international levels. The award is presented by the Jury of the 14th August Committee Norway together with The Oslo Center.
The “Nigeria Project” is both viable and desirable, despite a security crisis overwhelming the West African nation, said Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, retired Roman Catholic archbishop emeritus of Abuja.
Bishop Kortu K. Brown is president of the Liberian Council of Churches. He is also founder and general overseer of the New Water in the Desert Apostolic Pentecost Church located in Brewerville City, outside Monrovia. He shared with the World Council of Churches (WCC) reflections on his new role in resolving land conflicts in Liberia.
The following interview with Benoît and Denise Lokila, of the Cana Fraternity in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is part of a series dedicated to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
Lorraine Netro, who was raised in the Gwich’in First Nation of Old Crow, Yukon (Canada), is part of an indigenous community—but she’s also a global citizen.
“Today’s Arctic peoples are important members of global society,” Netro said. “The survival of Arctic cultures and communities remains tied to the wildlife and landscape of the Arctic Refuge.”
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.
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.
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?”
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.
On 30 December 2020, a tragic landslide struck the village of Ask, Norway, located in Gjerdrum, about 50 kilometers northeast of Oslo. Ten people were killed, and more than 1,000 people had to be evacuated from the area, even as they mourn lost loved ones in the close-knit community.
Below, Rt. Rev. Atle Sommerfeldt, bishop of Borg in the Church of Norway, reflects on how the church is bringing hope in the midst of what, for many in Gjerdrum, has become a valley of despair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
