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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).

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered a greeting at the General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe, being held this week in Basel, Switzerland.

At a time of increased divisions within churches and within rapidly changing societies, Christians are called, more urgently than ever before, to model the values of reconciliation, justice and peace. That’s why a group of theologians and church leaders from different denominations have been meeting near the German city of Augsburg to work together on two documents calling for much closer collaboration in the tasks of peace-building and the care of migrants and refugees.

A group of ecumenical pilgrims started a journey towards the 2018 World Climate Conference hosting city Katowice, in Poland, where high level talks about the preservation of creation will take place. "Go then!" is the motto of the Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice that took off in Bonn, Germany, on 9 September.

WCC Communication shares a brief overview of the Central Committee meeting held in Geneva on 15-21 June, 2018.

Entitled “Sharing faith, nurturing hope”, the WCC Annual Review 2017 is now available in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish. The annual review of the WCC records many of the activities undertaken by the council during 2017 and continuing into 2018.

You wouldn’t pay two thousand times more than the value of a cup of coffee, so why pay that for a glass of water? That’s one of the reasons why members of the World Council of Churches’s Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) are encouraging you to consider joining the “Blue Community” and to stop using bottled water in places where tap water is safely and freely available.

The WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2016 has gone to the documentary film Cahier africain directed by Heidi Specogna, who was recognized at an awards ceremony on 19 February in Berlin.

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.

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.

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.”

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

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.

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.

Last week, young Jewish, Muslim and Christian students learned about communication and peacebuilding during a workshop at the Ecumenical Centre, all with the hope of serving as peacemakers in their own contexts. The session was led by Marianne Ejdersten, director of WCC Communication.