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Church leaders in the Holy Land are raising their voices in unity to call for the cessation of all violent and military activities that bring harm to both Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

Following the outbreak of hostilities on 7 October – with a reported launch of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the infiltration of southern Israel by Hamas gunmen, and an ensuing Israeli military response – the World Council of Churches (WCC) is adapting its work in the Holy Land to continue to support efforts for just peace.

During a film screening at the World Council of Churches on 4 October, viewers got a deeper understanding of why Palestinians are about to lose one of the last green spaces left for them in the Bethlehem Governorate.

WCC progamme director for Public Witness and Diakonia Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata was part of a panel reviewing and reflecting on the book "White saviourism in International Development,” by Themrise Khan et al, at the 2023 Gothenburg Book Fair.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted Bishop Dr Jukka Keskitalo and Rev. Pekka Mustakallio from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, to discuss the ecumenical agenda of 2023 and the harvesting of the WCC 11 th assembly, as well a group from the Centre for Ecumenism of the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau, and 21 ordinands from the Church of Sweden.

A World Council of Churches delegation led by general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has concluded its visit to Armenia after “witnessing dramatic events”.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) congratulated Danish Bishop Henrik Stubkjær, who was newly elected as the next Lutheran World Federation president. 

At the midpoint of a four-day visit, the ecumenical solidarity delegation has lived the hopes and fears of the people of the region. 

In a joint greeting to the Lutheran World Federation Assembly, gathered in Krakow, Poland from 13-19 September, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Pillay and WCC moderator Bishop Prof. Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm reflected on the assembly’s theme, “One Body, One Spirit, One Hope.”

As the “Bethlehem Reborn – Palestine – The Wonders of the Nativity” exhibit was carefully installed at the Ecumenical Centre over the weekend, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is anticipating the official opening ceremony on 12 September.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay and Rev. Rita Famos, president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland, and member of the WCC central committee, met with Ambassador Simon Geissbühler, head of the Peace and Human Rights Department at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, on 7 September in Bern.

On 28th August, during a visit with Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Armenia to the UN Office, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with those making efforts to lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by reopening the Lachin corridor.

Human rights violations in Israel and Palestine have nearly tripled during the past year, according to reports from the most recent set of ecumenical accompaniers from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on Azerbaijan for the immediate lifting of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, as more than 120,000 people—including 30,000 children—are suffering under an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.

In pastoral letters to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and the Evangelical Church of Greece, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay conveyed sincere sympathies as wildfires raged across the land.

Ambassador Ibrahim Khraishi, Mission of Palestine to Switzerland; Ambassador Dr Omar Awadallah,  assistant minister for United Nations and Specialized Organizations;  and Doa Nofal, second secretary at the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 6 July to discuss the current situation in Palestine.