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Women forced to flee their homes during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Armenians fleeing war find open doors as churches offer shelter and hope

Armenians forced to flee Nagorno-Karabakh during last year's fighting in a conflict with Azerbaijan are thankful to churches and all those offering them shelter as many of their homes were destroyed by bombing or are now occupied by others.

25 February 2021

Ecumenical Forum on Korea in Bangkok, 2019

Peace and unity on the Korean Peninsula matters globally

While the peace process on the Korean Peninsula needs further progress built on trust, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected international humanitarian support and development cooperation efforts. World Council of Churches (WCC) communications invited Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, to discuss the current ecumenical engagement for Korea and role of churches in building a sustainable peace.

25 February 2021

WCC sends letters of concern over violence and conflict in Ethiopia

World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent letters to Ethiopian prime minister Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali as well as to WCC member churches in Ethiopia expressing serious concern over alarming reports of conflict, massacres and other human rights abuses, particularly in the Tigray and Beninshangul-Gumuz regions, over the last months.

04 February 2021

Ecumenical partners for peace on the Korean Peninsula gather to address changing world context

Convening online on 14 January, members and supporters of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula recalled the initiatives undertaken during 2020 despite the constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and reflected on the implications of a changing global context for efforts for peace.

19 January 2021

"Light of Peace" book now available in Korean

The National Council of Churches in Korea has published a Korean translation of The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula, a book the World Council of Churches (WCC) fellowship is using to recognize 70 years of unresolved conflict on the Korean Peninsula.

06 January 2021

Masai congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.

Christians in Africa face increasing violent attacks, repression

An intervention on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) made by Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, in a recent conference on “The Situation of Christians in Africa” lifted up the concern that, alongside the extraordinary demographic growth of Christians on the continent, churches and Christians in Africa are experiencing an increasing number of violent attacks and other forms of repression.

23 December 2020

Rev. Shin Seung-min: “We want to create hope, not despair”

Rev. Shin Seung-min, programme executive of the National Council of Churches in Korea, firmly believes that Christians live by the power of prayer. As he looks back at one of the largest global prayer campaigns in which he’s ever been involved, he sees that the year 2020 brought forth the power of prayer in unprecedented ways, even amid a year that brought grave suffering to the world.

22 December 2020

Bishop Hee-Soo Jung in prayer in United Methodist Church Global Mission Center

Bishop Hee-Soo Jung: “Prayer is a radical action”

Recently the World Council of Churches (WCC) published “The Light of Peace: Churches in Solidarity with the Korean Peninsula.” The article below is linked to the questions in Chapter 15 in the book, a chapter that highlights the road ahead for peace and reconciliation on the peninsula. In this interview, Bishop Hee-Soo Jung, president of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, reflects and shares his deep wisdom, and emphasizes the importance of working for peace and justice.

11 December 2020

Service in St Mary's Orthodox cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Letter to churches and people of Ethiopia expresses deep Christian love and care

In a pastoral letter to “sisters and brothers in Ethiopia,” eight faith-based organizations expressed Christian love and care, as well as a commitment to accompany churches and people of Ethiopia as they face the challenges confronting their country.

09 December 2020

Churches, relief agencies welcome humanitarian corridor in Ethiopia’s Tigray region

Church leaders and relief agencies have welcomed an agreement between Ethiopia and the UN that will allow humanitarian agencies “unimpeded, secure and sustained” access to the northern region of Tigray.

04 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 Cameroon reflect on the cost of the conflict and how to resolve it

After a two-day workshop in Buea, religious leaders from Cameroon issued a statement saying "that the cost and consequences of the armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon and the Boko Haram insurgence in the North are becoming increasingly unbearable on the local populations who are paying a high price for these conflicts."

27 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

Tower of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in Shushi, Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh.

WCC urges UNESCO to protect religious, cultural monuments in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh

In a 23 November letter to Audrey Azoulay, director-general of UNESCO, World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca urged the protection of religious and cultural monuments the Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh region.

24 November 2020

Blog post

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

WCC condemns recent extremist attacks around the world

“The unbearable toll of lives lost, and the impact on the affected communities and nations, must engage the concern, solidarity and action of the international community and all people of goodwill, to stem the bloodshed and to confront the brutal ideologies behind such atrocities,” wrote Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), on 3 November, as he commented on the violent extremist attacks in western Ethiopia, Kabul and Vienna.

03 November 2020

South Sudan church leaders appeal for urgent humanitarian assistance amid floods

South Sudanese Church leaders are appealing for urgent humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of their population, who have been left vulnerable by a mix of five crises, including floods and the COVID-19 pandemic.

03 November 2020