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From a photo “exhibition of hope,” to worship resources, to an opportunity for people and churches to share their personal expressions of hope, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is offering an invitation and accompanying resources to celebrate the World Week of Peace in Palestine and Israel on 17-24 September.

For the sake of peace, church leaders in Jerusalem are calling to maintain the historical status quo on the historical designation allowing access to al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyard, as well as other Holy Sites in the city.

The World Council of Churches organised in June 2017 a pilgrimage in the Holy Land for eight young Christians from all over the world. Participants said it was a unique experience to discover biblical and spiritual places.

Writing 100 years after the Balfour Declaration and fifty years after Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured in the 1967 War, the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) executive committee lamented the ongoing failure of the parties to seek just peace and remarked on “an indelible stain on the conscience of members of the international community” for their failure to resolve the situation.

The WCC is calling on Christians worldwide to join in prayer for just peace in the Holy Land by taking part in a Pentecost prayer service.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) today expressed grave concern about a new law passed on Monday by the Knesset which reportedly forbids granting entry visas to foreign nationals who call for economic, cultural or academic boycotts of either Israel or the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. The ‘Entry to Israel Act (Denial of Visa to Non-Residents Who Knowingly Call for a Boycott on Israel)’ apparently makes no distinction between boycotting Israel proper and boycotting products of the settlements, which are widely considered illegal under international law.

Speaking in Bethlehem on the evening of 8 December, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on the light from the very first Christmas in the very same town, and what that light means in a global search for just peace.

The WCC is committed to a just peace in Palestine and Israel with a view that this conflict is about justice with deep moral dimensions that must be given proper weight by all if we are to reach a lasting solution. Religion can both contribute to the increase of the level of conflict, or help establish peace. Read the interview with the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

The latest edition of the quarterly WCC journal features a discussion of the roots of religion and violence in the Middle East. Five presentations drawn from three WCC-sponsored conferences of recent years explore aspects of the religious concepts of “promised land,” the “theology of land” and how to go about “reading the Hebrew Bible in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

The WCC Central Committee meeting in Trondheim, Norway authorized the convening of an international ecumenical conference in 2017 “to reaffirm and strengthen ecumenical witness for peace with justice for Israelis and Palestinians.”

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

During the 29 years Virgine Nasrawi has worked in the Talbiah refugee camp, located 40 kilometers south of Amman, the Jordanian capital, she has witnessed many changes. And the sudden influx of refugees from neighbouring Syria, caused by the devastating civil war in that country, is the most dramatic.

When Fernando Enns thinks of water in a German context, he is reminded of thousands and thousands of refugees who have come to the country fleeing the conflict in Syria.

A water crisis for Palestinian people was highlighted by the general secretary of the WCC, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, at the launch of the Seven Weeks for Water campaign in Jerusalem.

It is raining. It is cold and windy. Autumn is in the air in northern Greece. We have just arrived at the Idomeni refugee camp in northern Greece, on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The fast-approaching winter poses as great a threat to the refugees as do the smugglers. In the worst case, winter means death.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

To express solidarity with churches and people in Israel and Palestine, the leadership of the WCC Central Committee has undertaken a visit to Israel and Palestine from 7 to 12 March.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.