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Zambia’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, passed away at the age of 97. He led his country for 27 years and championed Africa's struggles against apartheid and HIV.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca led a prayer for love, peace and kindness for the nation of Ethiopia during a service at the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York on 19 June.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca extended warmest congratulations to His Holiness Abune Kerlos I, Patriarch of Eritrea upon his election as the fifth Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church.

The ecumenical staff gathered with people from Zimbabwe and Botswana on 14 June for a morning prayer and song that focused on the church as a place of refuge and trust.

Rev. Canon Dr Emily Awino Onyango, a Kenyan woman theologian, was consecrated on 27 March as the assistant bishop of the Bondo Anglican Diocese, making her the first woman to hold such a post in the church in east-central Africa.

Leaders of the ecumenical movement in Africa, religious leaders, Christians, and people of good will are mourning Arthur Ndengerio Shoo, a long-serving ecumenical leader, who died on 26 February.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is remembering the life of Patrick Matsikenyiri, whose career included virtually all aspects of church music—singing, choral directing, composition, hymnal editor, festival leader, professor, and enlivener of global songs in venues around the world.

As the years change over the World Council of Churches interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca on 31 December condemned the vicious Yemen attack hitting civilians. Sauca also expressed solidarity and prayers with churches and responders who continue to help hundreds of injured and traumatized people of the earthquake in Croatia and Norway landslide.

In a pastoral letter to “sisters and brothers in Ethiopia,” eight faith-based organizations expressed Christian love and care, as well as a commitment to accompany churches and people of Ethiopia as they face the challenges confronting their country.

South African church leaders heard that corruption in their country kills when they organized for a campaign against the latest version of pillaging during the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

On 15 September, the South African Council of Churches will stand in silent prayer in all nine provinces to declare that “Corruption is Not Our Heritage.”

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World. She also serves on the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee. She recently participated in a rally and march in Washington, DC, where thousands gathered to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963 that included Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream" speech.

An online memorial service for Rev. Prof. Dr Mary-Anne Plaatjies-van Huffel drew family members, friends, colleagues and students who mourned the passing of the World Council of Churches (WCC) president for Africa. Plaatjies van Huffel, known as a transformative church leader in sub-Saharan Africa, passed away on 19 May.

South Sudanese church leaders have welcomed a new cabinet, which the country’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit announced on 12 March.

The unveiling of the cabinet ended months of anxious waiting for a new unity government which was mandated by a 2018 peace pact, known as the Revitalised Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. The government has 34 ministers and 10 deputies.