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The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and the WCC have published a revised and updated edition of their joint study, Mapping Migration: Mapping Churches’ Responses in Europe. The 2016 text explores challenges and changes in the European church landscape in light of international migration.

Churches in Europe have a crucial role to play in responding to the arrival of refugees in Europe, Germany's interior minister has told a gathering in Geneva of governments, United Nations agencies, church and faith groups and civil society organizations.

With simple, compelling messages, leaders and friends of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance are featured in a new five-minute video offering an overview of the EAA’s work and the serious global need for advocacy related to HIV and AIDS and food security.

Today 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss the refugee situation and the role of the churches in Europe.

World leaders will meet at the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. Faith groups around the world are building awareness of the importance of reaching a binding and ambitious agreement at the talks. In October, WCC members have taken part in climate activities in Germany.

In view of the current refugee crisis, European churches are being encouraged to deepen their efforts in receiving, supporting and protecting refugees who arrive in the region. This call was made in a letter issued jointly by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe.

In the wake of recent crisis with the refugees in Europe, it is “absolutely and critically necessary that all European states take their proper responsibility in terms of reception and support for people seeking refuge, safety and a better future for themselves and their families. This cannot be left only to the states where they enter first,” says the WCC general secretary.

The World Water Week is a “stepping stone” in accomplishing Sustainable Development Goals related to water and sanitation – and the faith communities must be actively engaged in achieving this vision, according to Dinesh Suna, coordinator of the Ecumenical Water Network of the WCC. Suna shared these reflections following his participation at the 2015 World Water Week Stockholm held in Sweden.

It was a peace hike inspired by the biblical story of Emmaus, crisscrossing part of the Holy Land, following the footsteps of Jesus.

Should robots make life and death decisions? Religious leaders are asked to tell governments “Never”.

To build just and sustainable peace, engaging churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society, the WCC has launched an Ecumenical Peace Advocacy Network (EPAN), aiming to turn its “pilgrimage of justice and peace” into concrete action.

A gender advisory group representing member churches of the WCC has begun working by developing procedures and policies to help the WCC in accomplishing gender justice in institutions, communities and societies – an objective lying at the core of its vision of a “pilgrimage of gender justice”.

Swedish communication specialist Marianne Ejdersten has recently been appointed as director for Communication at the WCC.

Pilgrimage towards peace and justice formed the theme of remarks opening the 5-day Ecumenical Peace Consultation in Sigtuna, Sweden. The WCC general secretary invited 80 participants from all over the world to join in a common journey of hope.

Nathan Söderblom was appointed Archbishop of Uppsala and primate of the Church of Sweden in November – one hundred years ago. A Nobel laureate and a well-known theologian, Söderblom was instrumental in building the modern ecumenical movement and a concept of global Christian fellowship which later contributed to the creation of the WCC.

Recently, a representative of the WCC, the Swedish crown princess, church leaders and thousands of others took part in the celebration of one thousand years of Christianity in Sweden held in the Diocese of Skara in southern Sweden.

Bishop Eva Brunne from Stockholm is one of three Swedes on the Central Committee of the WCC, which met in Geneva 2-8 July. “The Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace” became the central focus of the Committee’s work.

Anders Wejryd, one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Archbishop Emeritus of the Church of Sweden, has been committed to climate issues since the start of the 1970s and the worldwide oil crisis of that time. To attain a vision of life in God’s kingdom – a healed creation and humanity in a harmony of justice, freedom and peace – Wejryd believes the issue of climate change must be taken seriously. He says that it is about safeguarding the creation, but that it is also an issue of justice and peace.

When the Central Committee of the WCC convenes in plenary sessions during the course of its current meeting, the 150 representatives of member churches and assorted observers gather in the W.A. Visser ’t Hooft Hall, the main meeting room of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The room is named for a theologian from the Netherlands who served as the first general secretary of the WCC from 1948 to 1966.

The WCC general secretary extended greetings from the worldwide fellowship of churches to Archbishop Dr Antje Jackelén at her inauguration. Jackelén, born 1955 in Germany, was ordained in the Church of Sweden in 1980, and elected to be Sweden's first female archbishop in October 2013.