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The Pacific Conference of Churches joined other nongovernmental and civic groups on the streets of Suva, Fiji, to peacefully demonstrate against Japan’s dumping of Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the ocean.

Pacific islands experience lasting impacts of the 50 years of nuclear testing and the region has become a global hotspot of climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) learned in its meeting this week in Brisbane, Australia.

Impacts of the climate change and the lingering health and environmental effects of nuclear testing on the countries in the Pacific region are among the issues to be discussed at the meeting of the WCC’s Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), convened from 19 to 21 February in Brisbane, Australia.

The pre-launch of the Lenten campaign “Seven Weeks for Water” was held in Suva, Fiji, on 21 January, under the theme “A Pilgrimage of Water Justice in the Pacific Region.” In 2020, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace has a regional focus in the Pacific region.

“The Pacific Conference of Churches welcomes you on board our ecumenical canoe, as we sail and voyage together beyond the fringing reefs and rocks of the many issues that affect us here in the Pacific and globally, and set sail with our eyes firmly fixed on the island of hope,” said Rev. Dr James Bhagwan, Pacific Conference of Churches general secretary as he welcomed participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Fiji, on 20 January.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, addressed young people attending an Eco-School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, noting that large numbers of people in Asia don’t have access to safe drinking water.

Twenty-seven young people from 11 countries across Asia officially began the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The school will run from 4-17 November, exploring water, food, and climate justice.

More than 300 environmentalists - among them professors, students, scientists and religious leaders - gathered for the 5th International Eco Conference organized by the Church of South India.

The 56th meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs took place in Bali, Indonesia, on 24 – 28 February, discussing many of the most critical concerns of churches in the region and around the world.

Pilgrims coming from Germany, Italy and Norway ended their journeys for climate justice on 7 December upon arrival at the St Stephen’s Church in Katowice, Poland, where the United Nations (UN) climate conference is underway. They were warmly welcomed by the delegations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that are attending the 24th Conference of Parties of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

In its continuing efforts to outlaw nuclear weapons, the WCC has issued public support for French Polynesia’s petition to the UN for redress for ongoing effects of nuclear testing there.

Even though flood survivors are displaced in some 2,000 relief camps across Kerala in south India, many of them observed the indigenous Malayali festival of Onam on 25 August in whatever way they could. The traditional festival, for thousands, carried an even more poignant meaning because the holiday celebrates the return of joy to the land: the story of the return of King Mahabali, considered to be a very kind and generous ruler, during a “golden period” in Kerala.

As Kerala, the southern state of India, nicknamed “God’s Own Country,” battles one of the worst flood disasters in a century, various religious communities have opened their doors to help homeless people.

At a consultation in Seoul on December 7-11, participants from churches throughout northeast Asia shared insights on diakonia and how vital it is to the nature and mission of the church.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met with church leaders and politicians in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand last week. The meeting occurred almost one year after his latest visit to the region. On request of the church leaders a meeting took place with political leaders to discuss follow-up on the Paris Agreement, peace in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula, and the challenges the region is facing.

At a Welcome Service on 13 August for the 2017 Annual Conference at the Centenary Methodist Church in Suva, Fiji, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered a sermon that reflected on what it means, spiritually and ecologically, to exist in deep water.

Fiji President, Major-General (Retired) Jioji Konrote has urged the World Council of Churches (WCC) to support the Fiji Presidency at the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23), the 2017 climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.

“You are the first. You are the first among all the member churches of the World Council of Churches around the world to greet the dawn of every new day and to praise God,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a sermon delivered 6 August at the Centenary Chapel of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Nuku’alofa.

Friday evening when the leaders of the G20 states will be meeting in Hamburg and discussing global economic, social, environmental and political issues, the churches in Germany are inviting people in Germany and all over the world to a common peace prayer.