Six African Anglican female bishops—fondly known as the “Africa Six”—gathered at St Paul’s University in Nairobi, Kenya on 11 January to share their ideas and inspirations about “Christian Leadership for the 21st Century.”
At a 120-year-old Anglican cathedral in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, a visit by King Charles III, king of the United Kingdom and 14 other commonwealth realms, provided an opportunity for religious leaders to discuss interfaith dialogue, and peace, security, and development.
A woman who works with youth in Kenya—young people who once turned to heinous crimes—had a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims weeping tears of compassion and joy as she recounted her tough upbringing and how she helps turn those youth from crime to community.
I received a call from a friend of mine - we both work as medical doctors and had earlier realised that our husbands, who are ministers in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, had been friends for years —this is one of the reasons that drew us to each other. She had been attending the February meeting of the Methodist Women’s Prayer and Service Union (Manyano), Connexional Extended Executive Meeting. My friend said that the general president, Gretta Makhwenkwe, had appointed us to the Wellness Committee.
Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a recipient of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, is a household name in peace building and community mobilisation in the Kenyan coastal region.
The Mothers Union from the Church of Uganda (Buganda region) in collaboration with the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy and Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance programmes have been finding strength and inspiration during the 16 Days campaign against sexual and gender-based violence.
As a crowd of more than 300 gathered, the St Paul’s University School of Theology officially launched Thursdays in Black, pledging to build an Africa without violence and to join together on a pilgrimage of justice, peace, and reconciliation.
Every Monday, staff and students at the Joshua and Timothy School of Theology, St Paul’s University, in Limuru Kenya hold their weekly fellowship during which they hold prayers, Bible study, and theological debates, and sometimes celebrate holy communion together.
As Loyce Maturu shared her story of growing up in Zimbabwe at an interfaith breakfast in New York City on 22 September, she held herself up as an example that faith communities really can make a difference for children who have HIV.
At the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe Germany, Jackcilia Salathiel Ebere will be carrying the voices of women from South Sudan who are crying for peace and justice.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed the revulsion of the global fellowship of churches at the murder of Deborah Yakubu, a second-year college student beaten to death and burnt by a group of her fellow students in Sokoto, northern Nigeria.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Ibraheem Garba, co-director of International Centre for Interfaith Peace and Harmony in Nigeria. He died in a car accident in Nigeria as he was travelling for work-related reasons between Kaduna and Abuja.
Christian educators and other church leaders in Togo are eagerly turning the pages of a new resource for children, a curriculum entitled “Because God Loves Me—Affirming My Value in Christ,” published by the World Council of Churches (WCC).
In the years since it was founded in 2016, the International Centre for Inter-Faith Peace and Harmony in Kaduna, Nigeria has been building a cadre of peacemakers who are witnesses to inter-religious peace and harmony. It also continues to serve as a physical symbol helping Muslims and Christians work together more effectively.
The Religious Forum Against COVID-19 in South Africa issued a statement with faith leaders standing in solidarity in response to COVID-19, and with a broader objective of collaborating in making for a safer South African environment.
The South Sudan Council of Churches is inviting churches to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, observed globally on 19 June. The council published a series of messages available for use in worship services over the weekend.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on what many are calling a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence, African faith leaders are amplifying their call for increased action for prevention and support for those affected.
Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”
Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”
Through four years of collaboration with the Effata Secular School in Togo, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme has introduced students and teachers to Thursdays in Black, towards a world without rape and violence, helped them better respond to HIV, and offered a safe space to discuss responsible sexual and reproductive health.
In a message on 15 October, Rev. Dr David Tswaedi, executive director of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, lamented that the voices of survivors and victims of gender-based violence have been muted, due to stigma and the perceived power of the perpetrators.