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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.  

Convening for a 10th round of dialogue, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue met at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute from 4-8 December, sharing their mutual visions for justice and peace in Iran.

Church leaders in Iran warmly welcomed WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca and the WCC delegation: Prof. Dr Simone Sinn, dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute and Dr Abraham Silo Wilar, programme executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, during their visit to the country in the first week of March. Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Diocese of Teheran, met them at the premises of the Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran with members of his church.

Signing a celebratory certificate commemorating 25 years of fruitful dialogue, leaders from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization in Tehran met online on 27 October.

In the aftermath of armed attacks by both the US and Iran, WCC reiterates its call for restraint and de-escalation of the confrontation.
“Further escalation and conflict between the United States and Iran can only serve short-term political interests, while threatening the permanent destruction of many lives, communities and precious cultural and environmental heritage,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. “I appeal to political leaders on all sides of this confrontation to put the interests of the people of the region ahead of their own interests, and to seek peace through dialogue and negotiation rather than confrontation.”

Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award on 24 September from the Roman Catholic Church for his interreligious peace-building efforts.

Faith leaders across the USA released on 9 July a jointly signed statement entitled “Back from the Brink: Faith leaders call for diplomacy, not war, with Iran.”

Restoring human dignity where people suffer most is the ultimate calling for churches in the Middle East and their partners worldwide, stated an annual partners meeting of the Middle East Council of Churches held in Ain el Qassis, Lebanon this week.

Respect for the other lies at the heart of peace education and was a key thread through a debate entitled “Education for Peace in a multi-religious world”. It was held on the 2018 World Human Rights Day at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

At a global conference on xenophobia in Rome, a panel of four religious leaders from, respectively, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Islamic traditions, spoke candidly about how xenophobia can sometimes be woven deeply into the fabric of these traditions.

Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land accepted a “Building Bridges of Understanding” award on 12 September at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The award is organized by the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

اجتمعت اللجنة التنفيذية لمجلس الكنائس العالمي في عمان، الأردن، في الفترة ما بين 17 و23 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر من أجل المصادقة على خطة وميزانية عام 2018، والاستعداد لتجديد الخطة الاستراتيجية لمجلس الكنائس العالمي. وحدّدت اللجنة التنفيذية سبل المضي قدماً في انخراط مجلس الكنائس العالمي في فلسطين وإسرائيل من خلال المزيد من الاطلاع على الوضع الخاص في الأردن والشرق الأوسط، وناقشت تحديات الكنائس وردّ مجلس الكنائس العالمي. ورحّب غبطة "ثيوفيلوس" الثالث، بطريرك المدينة المقدسة أورشليم وسائر فلسطين والأردن بهذه المجموعة.

The WCC Executive Committee met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November to approve the 2018 plan and budget and prepare for renewal of the WCC strategic plan. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s involvement in Palestine and Israel by learning more about the particular situation in Jordan and the Middle East, then discussing the challenges of the churches and the WCC response. The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, All Palestine and Jordan, Theophilos III, welcomed the group.

While celebrating new steps taken towards global elimination of nuclear weapons, the WCC Executive Committee also fears the cycle of confrontation on the Korean peninsula might slide into nuclear warfare.

The WCC Executive Committee, during its meeting in Amman, issued a “Statement on Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and on 2017 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.”

“The Amazon, the green heart of the Earth, is mourning and the life it sustains is withering,” begins a statement released by the World Council of Churches Executive Committee as it met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November.

At its meeting in Amman, Jordan, the WCC Executive Committee issued a “Minute on the situation in Zimbabwe” as developments in Zimbabwe have led to the resignation of President Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power.

سيجتمع المجلس التنفيذي التابع لمجلس الكنائس العالمي في العاصمة الأردنية "عمّان" خلال الفترة من 17 إلى 23 تشرين الثاني / نوفمبر 2017م من أجل المصادقة على خطط وميزانية 2018م وكذلك التحضير لتجديد الخطة الاستراتيجية لمجلس الكنائس العالمي وكذلك من أجل التفكير في سبل مواصلة التزام مجلس الكنائس العالمي تمهيدا لإقرار العدل والسلام في فلسطين وإسرائيل عن طريق الاستفادة من الوضع الخاص في الأردن وفي منطقة الشرق الأوسط ومناقشة التحديات التي تواجهها الكنائس وكيفية تعامل مجلس الكنائس العالمي مع هذه التحديات. وسيستقبل المجموعة المشاركة في هذا الاجتماع المرتقب في "عمّان" غبطة "ثيوفيلوس" الثالث بطريرك المدينة المقدسة أورشليم وسائر فلسطين والأردن.