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Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has been on an ecumenical journey for most of his adult life, which spans 80 years. The former WCC general secretary relates some of this pilgrimage in his newest publication, “The Challenge of Transformation: An Ecumenical Journey.” On 5 February, shortly after Raiser’s birthday, ecumenical experts from different generations, confessions and continents met in Geneva to discuss the newest publication by the man who led the WCC from 1993 to 2003.

There are currently over 65 million people around the world who have been forced from their homes, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, but all those who are displaced are not mere statistics. They are people, something that can be missed by the mass media in reporting on them. This observation was highlighted in a discussion at the WCC on 30 January when representatives of church groups, the United Nations and a Christian media organization discussed media coverage of refugees at a “tray-lunch” presentation.

On 30 January 2018, media are invited to a presentation and discussion on the media representation of refugees, communication rights, and the ecumenical and international refugee response – an event organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Association for Christian Communication – Europe region (WACC Europe), with participation from UNHCR and The Church of the Lord (Prayer Fellowship) Worldwide.

The Council of Christian Churches in France (CÉCEF) is encouraging local churches to support a recently created Green Church environmental certification label, asking that offerings made at ecumenical services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity go to help finance the initiative.

Joy Eva Bohol was running the Escalade race on 2 December in Geneva as part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) “Pilgrims for Justice and Peace” team when she realized a young woman nearby was having trouble continuing.

There are indications of a “pattern of invisibility” of refugees and migrants themselves in news reports on asylum and migration in European media, according to a new report presented in Brussels on 16 November.

His Eminence Dr Mohammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, general secretary of the Muslim World League visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland on 9 November, where he discussed with WCC leaders both the meaning and importance of “just peace.”

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 7 November at a Muslim World League symposium in Geneva entitled “The Role of Religions on the Strengthening of World Peace.”

A consultation with the theme “Ecumenical Perspective on the Role of Women in the Churches” brought together 28 women and men to the Monastero di Bose in northern Italy from 3-7 October.

The WCC congratulated its partner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize on 6 October.

Borders – physical, political, attitudinal – which deny people their human rights, dignity and life are counter to the gospel which calls us to protect and welcome migrants and refugees. This was the recurring theme of an international conference on migration and reception, “Living and Witnessing the Border”, held 30 September – 2 October in Palermo.

An Ecumenical Strategic Forum on Diakonia and Sustainable Development was convening this week, drawing 130 thinkers from across the globe who have agreed to seek a common vision for churches and strengthen their ability to collaborate.

Prompted by a commitment to care for creation, organizations in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland have joined together to develop a “Sustainable Mobility Plan” that strives for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable solution for traffic mobility and commuting.

As they met from 20-22 September, the staff of the WCC resolved to work not only effectively but also with a sense of “faith, hope and love.” The annual Staff Enrichment Days are a time when WCC staff temporarily puts aside regular office work to share, connect and network with each other, and to think about the connections between their areas of work.

Some forty professionals working on ecumenical relations in different member churches in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East as well as North and South America, are currently gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. Their four-day meeting affords them an opportunity to learn about the various WCC programmes as well as from each other.

A regional conference held 5-6 September in Berlin allowed participants to look at statelessness in the European context through the lenses of human rights and development.

The conference, with the theme “Statelessness in the European Context: Prevention, Reduction and Protection,” approached statelessness as an issue that is often invisible even though it occurs in so many countries around the world.

The 44th conference of the International Ecumenical Fellowship (IEF) has released a “Declaration of Wittenberg: We walk towards the visible unity of the Church,” a statement that culminates the week-long assembly, held 21-28 August.

In a 25 August speech at the Wittenberg Ecumenical Assembly, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reviewed the work of the ecumenical movement in 2017, describing the present as “an extraordinary ecumenical chance at this point in history.”

A group of Protestant pilgrims are exercising their legs in an untypical fashion these days: by stepping in the pedals. Their 14-day Bike Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace winds along both sides of the Rhine from Constance to Worms.

The WCC has begun the process of digitally publishing its Faith and Order Papers, a set of legacy materials comprising 300 discrete publications and totaling 35,000 pages.