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During a visit from World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC member churches in Japan received expressions of appreciation from the WCC for hosting various visits and forums that strengthened ecumenical ties.

WCC members in Japan reported a deepening spirit of koinonia as well as more involvement in the programmatic life of the WCC, particularly as the ecumenical movement sets its sights on the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly in 2021 in Karlsruhe, Germany.

As the Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity opened at the Yonsei University Chapel in South Korea on 18 September, participants were already learning to live into the theme “Stewards of Hope, Seekers of Harmony.” For the first time, the training includes not only young people from Asia but from across the world, and is being co-coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Programme for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, the Council for World Mission, and youth representatives from the ecumenical movement.

Cuando el pasado 18 de septiembre se inauguró en la capilla de la Universidad de Yonsei, en Corea del Sur, la formación de los jóvenes en Asia para la armonía religiosa (Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity), los participantes ya estaban aprendiendo a vivir bajo el tema “Guardianes de la esperanza, buscadores de armonía”.

Por primera vez, la formación incluye no solo a jóvenes de Asia, sino también de todo el mundo. Los encargados de la coordinación de esta formación son los programas del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) sobre el diálogo interreligioso y la juventud en el Movimiento Ecuménico, junto con el Consejo para la Misión Mundial (CMM) y la Comunión Mundial de Iglesias Reformadas (CMIR).

Twenty-seven young ecumenists from across Asia are currently attending the month-long Asian Ecumenical Institute organized by the Christian Conference of Asia. The programme aims to provide ecumenical formation and leadership development training for prospective church and ecumenical leaders. It is being held at the Christian Conference of Asia headquarters in Payap University Campus in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In the wake of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, the Omnia Institute for Contextual Leadership, based in Chicago, lifted up points of hope that peace will win in the end. In a 25 April message, Shanta Premawardhana, president of the institute, wrote that every person of every faith of every nation deserves to wake up in peace. “Every child deserves to feel safe, welcomed, and alive to the promise that each day brings,” Premawardhana wrote. “I'm sure you know that this is why we build Interfaith Peacemaker Teams in Sri Lanka.”

The Christian Conference of Asia gathered over 100 participants representing seven religions including Christian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Bahai, Hindu and Sikh to meet with the participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group to discuss relevant issues about religion and their implications to the Asian society.

La Conferencia Cristiana de Asia acogió a más de cien participantes representantes de siete religiones –el cristianismo, el budismo, el islam, el judaísmo, el bahaísmo, el hinduísmo y el sijismo– que se reunieron con los miembros del Grupo de Referencia de la Peregrinación de Justicia y Paz del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) para debatir sobre cuestiones relevantes relacionadas con la religión y sus repercusiones para la sociedad asiática.

An ecumenical delegation coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) visited Indonesia on 15-22 February, including the provinces of Papua and Papua Barat - where increasing violence and discrimination against indigenous Papuan people was recently highlighted in a joint statement by five UN human rights mandate-holders.

Una delegación ecuménica organizada por el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) visitó Indonesia del 15 al 22 de febrero. La visita incluyó las provincias de Papúa y Papúa Occidental, lugares en los que se destacó el aumento de la violencia y la discriminación contra los pueblos indígenas papúes en una declaración conjunta de cinco titulares de mandatos en materia de derechos humanos de las Naciones Unidas.

On 14 February, the Global Christian Forum Committee concluded a fruitful five-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where priorities were carved out and future directions of the network outlined.

El Comité del Foro Cristiano Mundial concluyó el 14 de febrero una fructífera reunión en Kuala Lumpur (Malasia) en la que se establecieron las prioridades y se trazaron las futuras orientaciones de la red intereclesial.

Applications are now open for YATRA (Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity) 2018, an inter-religious training programme of the WCC. The intensive training course, held annually since 2014, seeks to enable young Christian leaders from Asian churches to contribute towards the building up of just, harmonious and peaceable communities by equipping them for ministries of justice and peace from an inter-religious perspective.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and a WCC delegation will visit member churches in China 7-16 January. The historic visit will begin the celebration of the WCC’s 70th anniversary. The WCC delegation, in addition to Tveit, includes WCC Asia president Dr Sang Chang and Rev. Dr Peniel Rajkumar, WCC programme executive for Interreligious Dialogue.

El secretario general del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI), el Rev. Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, y una delegación del CMI visitarán a iglesias miembros de China del 7 al 16 de enero. La histórica visita será el inicio de las celebraciones del 70º aniversario del CMI.

It is time to revitalize the Asian ecumenical movement to respond to contemporary realities in Asia, according to Mathews George Chunakara, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, in the article that opens the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, the quarterly journal of the WCC.

On 18-19 July, 35 young leaders from 14 countries across Asia – part of the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Youth in Asia Training in Religious Amity (YATRA) – travelled to the Indonesian city of Bandung to meet with faith leaders and young activists engaged in interreligious dialogue and work.

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), on 11-12 July, held an international consultation on “Towards Revitalising the Ecumenical Movement in Asia.” The gathering of 60 church and ecumenical leaders was organised by the CCA at its headquarters in Chiang Mai, Thailand as a prelude to its Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The World Council of Churches' (WCC) popular YATRA (Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity) programme has a new online learning component that adds four weeks of intensive training to two weeks of residential learning. When 35 young men and women from 14 different countries meet at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Indonesia on 8 July, they will already have a familiarity with the major religious traditions found in Asia, thanks to their online studies.

Nearly 30 young ecumenical leaders from 14 Asian countries gathered at the Jakarta Theological Seminary in Indonesia for the third Youth in Asia Training Programme for Religious Amity (YATRA). Jointly organised by the World Council of Churches, Jakarta Theological Seminary and Communion of Christian Churches in Asia, the 2-week training will facilitate learning on the theme “Religion and Public Space” from an interreligious perspective.

Muslims are a minority in Norway and a majority in Pakistan. From 12-15 March, these roles changed at a conference hosted by The Church of Pakistan in Lahore, Pakistan.