Search results

In a reflection in the Ecumenical Centre Chapel in Geneva on 20 January, WCC programme executive for the Faith and Order Commission Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi offered a reflection on how important it is that, in difficult times, churches welcome people who have no place to go.

Fr Prof. Ioan Sauca walked through 42 different offices within the World Council of Churches on 13 January, sharing with appreciative staff the “great blessing of waters” according to Orthodox tradition.

During the second week of Advent, staff members of the World Council of Churches and other organizations at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva gathered with their families for the prayer service and celebration of the upcoming Christmas.

The WHO Director-General has convened a Civil Society Working Group on non-communicable diseases to strengthen civil society contribution to combat NCDs. In this regard, the WHO has appointed the WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, Dr Mwai Makoka, to this working group.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee raised prayers for an end to conflict and for peace in Syria, after more than eight tragic years of death, destruction and displacement.

The World Council of Churches Executive Committee issued a minute, reaffirming its opposition to the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel commenced, Nora Carmi offered a morning reflection at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 16 September. Carmi is a civil society worker on justice and peace issues who is from the Orthodox community.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its commitment to supporting health and wellness in Africa before the 69th session of World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa. The regional committee, comprising health ministers from the 47 countries, is the governing body of the World Health Organization in the African region. The 69th session was held in Brazzaville, Congo from 19–23 August.

Hundreds of worshippers gathered 16th of June in the historic cathedral of the Protestant Church of Geneva to commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting the public, media, and all people of goodwill to join in a Midday Prayer on 20 March. Prayers will focus on grieving family, friends and colleagues who lost loved ones from UN agencies, the WCC and other organizations who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on 10 March.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is inviting the public, media, and all people of goodwill to join in a Midday Prayer on 20 March. Prayers will focus on grieving family, friends and colleagues who lost loved ones from UN agencies, the WCC and other organizations who perished in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash on 10 March.

For HIV-infected people in Nairobi, the Eastern Deanery Aids Relief Program makes a difference. By providing a quarter of the antiretroviral therapy care, it helps around 26,000 HIV-infected people in the Kenyan capital to live normal lives.

Ten years ago, while studying to become a nurse, Khadijah Abdullah was confronted at a hospital with a rather difficult patient, a Muslim living with AIDS who was also coping with several other medical issues. When Abdullah realized how isolated and stigmatized this patient was in his own faith community, she became aware of her prejudices and ignorance and she decided to do something about it.

Ours is a world of migration. Yet myths and mystification persist in our understanding of the journey – particularly when it comes to transmittable diseases such as HIV.

On 20-21 February, UNAIDS, the WCC and the International Catholic Migration Commission are hosting a workshop on HIV among migrants and refugees. The aim of the workshop is to identify a roadmap for strengthening faith-based organizations’ engagement in collaboration with other sectors.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit hosted a lunch on 12 December in gratitude to the services rendered by the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura at the Château de Bossey with ambassador Heidi Grau, Head of the human security division at the Swiss FDFA, and the UN and WCC teams on Syria.

Marking 40 years since the World Health Organization’s “Alma-Ata Declaration” that launched primary health care, a special anniversary issue of Contact magazine examines the role of faith-based organizations in developing and implementing the declaration and its principles – and exploring the challenges that remain to achieve “health for all”.

Maryland-based, Ghanaian-born Rev. Dr Casely Essamuah was in February selected as secretary of the Global Christian Forum. Originally ordained in the Methodist Church in Ghana, he began his work officially in July. This week he made a study visit to the WCC and the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and the WCC was able to converse with him.

The year 1948 was historical not only for the founding of the World Council of Churches, but also for the launch of its neighbour down the road in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO).