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The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) has published a “2023 Easter Prayer for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula”, an annual observance which carries special significance this year, 70 years after the Korean War ceasefire established by the 1953 Armistice Agreement.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed great concern in the wake of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines on 27 July.

The Church of South India synod observed a month-long “Pray in Tears for Others” during August to help people mourn and reflect on the severe effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 29 August, the prayer campaign focused specifically on the World Council of Churches as well as all ecumenical efforts across the world.

More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.

The Ecumenical Women's Assembly recently ended a weeklong meeting in Taiwan with calls to repent from greed and for Asian women to become advocates and catalysts of reconciliation, renewal, and restoration in the world, communities, and in churches.

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.

As the worst flooding in half a century struck the southern India state of Kerala, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called for prayers for those affected and for those responding, and expressed his sympathy for those who have lost loved ones in the disaster.

As the anniversary of Korea's liberation and division draws near, churches in Korea and around the world prepare for the Sunday of Prayer on 12 August.

As people in Seoul held a candlelight vigil on 7 June to pray for peace on the Korean Peninsula, they were joined by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC), and hundreds of others across the world.

Participants in a 7-11 December consultation on ecumenical diakonia held in Seoul, South Korea, didn’t just talk about the important concept of service. They also took time to visit local projects where Korean Christians are fleshing out their call to actively practice diakonia in the communities they serve.

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.

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.

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.

While reflecting on the theme of the WCC upcoming assembly in Busan, Indian churches stressed the importance of celebrating life in fullness, vibrancy, dynamism and fervour irrespective of caste, creed, colour, class, gender or ethnicity.

The WCC general secretary has expressed solidarity with Bangladesh, and concern over recent tragedies in the country, including the loss of over a thousand lives in a garment factory accident near Dhaka, as well as increasing attacks against religious minorities.

Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples'€™ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.

Drawing on the Indian churches' experience, churches around the world are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a particular focus on justice as integral to the unity they seek.