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When COVID-19 brought its dark cloud of sickness, fear, and anxiety to his corner of the UK, Rev. Harvey Richardson decided to embrace his friends with the light of prayer.

In an annual audience during the ongoing Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Bishop Bo-Göran Åstrand of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland gifted a pair of gloves to Pope Francis, described as “a modest gift, to warm the Pope’s hands in an otherwise cold world.” 

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. 

The world needs a “reformation of hope and confidence,” according to the moderator of the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, giving the Otto Karrer lecture in Lucerne, Switzerland. 

As the World Council of Churches celebrates its 75th anniversary, a series of feature stories from different regions of the world will portray ecumenism at the local level—within churches, communities, and individuals who embody the spirit of ecumenism in unique ways. The feature story below offers a glimpse of some facets of ecumenism present in Germany.

“Hospitality is one of our main values,” said president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland Rev. Rita Famos as she welcomed members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee to a reception at the Ecumenical Centre on 23 June.

There is an old Lutheran adage that to be Lutheran is to be ecumenical, so the theme of the upcoming Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) taking place in Poland, "One Body, One Spirit, One Hope,” is seen as totally appropriate for the times.

“The audacity to love as Christ loves,” said the Rt. Rev. Joy Evelyn Abdul-Mohan, is “an imperative, not an option” for churches in today’s world. “When we have our agenda inclusive of all, for the benefit of all, then the cooperation and the commitment of all will be assured, and Christ’s audacious love will become more real to us.”

Where two or three Christians are gathered, you will most likely find them in worship or enjoying fellowship over food. Gather a few thousand Christians in one place, and you will definitely find them engaged in a Bible study.

With the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly less than four months away, anticipation for the historic gathering of faith and fellowship is growing.

Students from the Bossey Ecumenical Institute deepened their understanding of the ecumenical movement as they helped lead prayers during the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting, held via videoconference 9-15 February.