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Jesus and the ladder to peacemaking: an Easter meditation

Originally published by The Canadian Council of Churches.*

04 April 2024

Pastor Peter Noteboom

The group of young women in front of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America headquarters in New York City.

Girls from Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America participate in advocacy at the UN

As part of a new program specifically for girls within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America through its Ecumenical Department, a group of 13 young women participated in advocacy at the UN in conjunction with the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68).

20 March 2024

Closing worship service at Jerusalem Mar Thoma Church in Kottayam. Photo CCA

Blending local and global ecumenism in Asia

After being postponed twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15^th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) finally got underway in late September and early October 2023 in Kottayam, India. Under the theme "God, renew us in your spirit and restore the creation,” CCA member churches across Asia gathered to stake out the direction forward and evaluate accomplishments and challenges since the last assembly in 2015 in Jakarta.

02 November 2023

Photo essay

WCC general secretary reflects on deep spirituality of member churches in Asia

After returning from a visit to the Christian Conference of Asia assembly, and from visits with church leaders in India, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay reflected that the relationships he built were both enlightening and inspiring.

05 October 2023

Doing local theology for ecological justice - a short story from Maluku

We call it Marafenfen, a small village in the South Aru Island. A small village inhabited by Indigenous people in Aru. We are also a small congregation in The Protestant Church in the Moluccas (GPM). In the midst of savannah we hunted, in the vastness of our land we cultivated. We live in harmony with the nature given by God.

24 August 2023

Rev. Agnes Souisa

Faith communities respond to climate crisis in Indonesia

In crowded urban neighborhoods and drought-plagued rural villages, Indonesians from all religious backgrounds are putting their faith into action.

25 July 2023

Pour Tony Rinaudo, la foi comme moteur du souci de l’environnement est essentielle pour la régénération naturelle gérée par les agriculteurs et les agricultrices

Très jeune, Tony Rinaudo a ressenti de la colère face à la destruction environnementale dans sa région natale où l’agriculture joue un rôle prépondérant, dans la vallée de l’Owens dans l’État de Victoria, en Australie, et, mu par sa foi, il a agi.

17 May 2023

Environmental care driven by faith is core to Tony Rinaudo for Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

At a young age, Tony Rinaudo got angry at some of the environmental destruction while growing up in an agricultural region of the Owens Valley in Australia's Victoria state and, driven by his faith, did something.

15 May 2023

From exhaustion to excitement—to hope

A reflection originally shared at the "Working Together" meeting between the World Council of Churches and specialized ministries, convened 3-4 May in Bossey, Switzerland.

15 May 2023

Marie Anne Sliwinski

Bossey graduates reflect on the impact of studies that changed their lives

“It’s okay not to be okay.” That’s the catchy way Denis Pattinasarany, from the Protestant church in the Mollucas, Indonesia, describes one of the most important things he learned at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

03 February 2023

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service at the Interchurch Center in New York City

In New York City, unity prayers focus on how we “can join hands and minds and do the work that God has called us to do”

Christians in New York City opened the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 18 January by participating in a worship service at the Interchurch Center, an office building that houses many church-related organizations and many others focused on intercultural and religious exchange. The service was infused with themes of justice and unity, both from a perspective of African-American history and the urging of Christians today to put their faith into action.

24 January 2023

L’appel à l’unité des chrétien-ne-s exige «une approche à la fois prophétique et pastorale»

Le pasteur Curtiss Paul DeYoung, codirecteur général du Conseil des Églises du Minnesota, aux États-Unis, a participé à la création d’une équipe d’auteurs et autrices chargée de rédiger les ressources de la Semaine de prière pour l’unité des chrétiens de cette année. Il revient sur les défis rencontrés et les espoirs partagés lors de la rédaction commune du texte.

19 January 2023

Calling for Christian Unity requires “both a prophetic and pastoral approach”

Rev. Dr Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-chief executive officer of the Minnesota Council of Churches, helped convene the team of authors for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity materials. Below, he reflects on the challenges and hopes the team brought to the table as they composed the text.

18 January 2023

What will we hear?

I believed Christian unity to be an ideal we strive for, perhaps analogous to the saying "if you shoot for the moon, you'll land in the stars." In the times I have seen Christian Unity manifest, often in times of prayer and most often when hands and feet are moving to answer prayer, it has been fleeting, almost illusory.

30 June 2022

Rev Jack Veatch

Éclairer la vie de beaucoup

L’évêque Isaac Mar Philoxenos, membre du Comité central du COE, a partagé un exemple de « l’amour de Dieu en action » lors d’une réunion confessionnelle.

30 June 2022

Lighting the lives of many

Empowering underprivileged women and their children to alleviate poverty was the main topic of one of the confessional meetings held during the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting in mid-June.

28 June 2022

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith receives Figel Ecumenism Award

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith received the Figel Ecumenism Award on 4 February, honoring her work toward unity in the ecumenical movement, particularly from the perspective of churches and ecclesial communities of Africa and African descent.

25 February 2022

Reflecting on California groundwater abuse

I live in western Oregon, part of the Pacific Northwest long regarded as a verdant paradise, courtesy of rains and snowfall that can exceed 100 inches each year. The snowfall in the mountains sustains our rivers through the dry summer. But our climate has been profoundly disrupted. Where I live, summers are far drier and hot. But just to the south of us, this climate change has caused a drought worse than any drought in the past 1200 years. Scientists call it a “mega-drought,” a severe drought affecting massive areas of the western United States for more than two decades.

24 February 2022

Susan Lea Smith

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson at the WCC Central committee meeting, 2018

L’évêque Mary Ann Swenson, une vie de prière aux racines profondes

Dès son plus jeune âge, l’évêque Mary Ann Swenson a exploité le pouvoir de la prière.

01 February 2022