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From Fiji to Rwanda, prayers and signs of commitment are being offered for the annual International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. This year’s observances are taking place in parishes and on Facebook , led by people who attended a World Council of Churches peace convocation in Jamaica this May.

This past February the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee announced that the theme for the Tenth WCC Assembly in 2013 in Busan, Korea would be “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

At a time when the impact of climate change is on the front page of nearly every newspaper, magazine and web page, churches around the world are calling for a renewed commitment towards the environment and ecosystems.

The WCC Executive Committee opened its bi-annual meetings Monday 12 September in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with a welcoming ceremony by local church leaders and poignant and detailed presentations on the regional humanitarian crisis in Somalia and neighbouring countries.

A call for solidarity with the poor was delivered to a gathering of religious, political and civil society leaders from all over the world by one of the presidents of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The meeting on the topic “Bound to Live Together: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue” is taking place from 11-13 September in Munich, Germany.

The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, outside Geneva, Switzerland, is inaugurating its first summer school by hosting an internationally focused session on communication and religion.

Conflicts over water threaten peace in the world, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, told a gathering in Germany on the banks of the River Danube to mark the end of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

Church communication needs to be personal and authentic, and that is why it has traditionally been centred on face-to-face contacts.

Wealth and property shape a “false reading” of human value, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said recently at a Protestant convention in Germany.“Property and possessions have purpose in as much as they help us to live as the people God called us to be and no more,” Tveit said in a Bible study at the German Protestant Kirchentag which met in Dresden 1-5 June.

The experience of the German city of Dresden demonstrates how churches can be witnesses to peace and reconciliation based on justice, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit,  said in advance of the 33rd German Protestant Kirchentag 1- 5 June.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit underscored the witness and steadfastness of the Cuban churches in the midst of serious difficulties and new challenges, during a recent visit there.

The Rev. Joachim Mukambu Ya'Namwisi, who represents both the Mennonite Church and the Church of Christ in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he has watched churches develop increasing strength when it comes to standing up for basic human rights.

Realizing a peaceful reunification of Korea would not only be a gift for the Korean people but also for the people of Asia and the world as a whole. For the church, both in and outside Korea, realizing a unified Korea will also mean the church being unified in their efforts.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) formally opened on Wednesday in Kingston, Jamaica, as theologians, faith leaders and the prime minister of Jamaica welcomed some 1,000 participants from more than 100 countries.

Five general secretaries of international ecumenical organizations engaged in lively conversation with leaders of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on Friday 8 April, the final day of the EKD Council’s visit to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva. The general secretaries are heads of the ACT Alliance, the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“We must avoid stereotypes,” said Rev. Dr Nikolaus Schneider, chair of the council that coordinates relations and activities within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). As diverse groups encounter one another in the contemporary dynamics of world Christianity, he added, the key questions are whether the calling of the church is being fulfilled by a given community, and whether Jesus Christ is to be found there.

Members of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) Council began a three-day visit at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva Wednesday afternoon by first meeting with the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and then later with the general secretaries of the Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Conference of European Churches and ACT Alliance.