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The WCC has welcomed four new programme executives.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) was nominated as a top non-governmental organization and received a 4th place in the Geneva Engage Award on 29 January. The honor recognises the actors in International Geneva for their social media outreach and online engagement.

Jürgen Moltmann looked astonished when he saw his name on the list of contributors. In a recent dinner at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, my colleague Stephen Brown, the editor of The Ecumenical Review, surprised him with a 50-year old brochure.

“Nationalist power politics is no longer interested in truth. They wage war under the guise of peace, a hybrid form of war with economic sanctions and cyber wars, fake news and lies,” affirmed Prof. Dr Jürgen Moltmann at the opening of his public lecture at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, 2 December.

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.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church Department of External Church Relations, visited the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 5 June, during a visit to Switzerland.

They came from governments, the United Nations, civil society, churches and other faith-based organizations to discuss the impact of Cyclone Idai that has wreaked death, havoc and destruction on Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in recent weeks.

“Mission is not an action or activity we can choose. It is an expression of daily life. It belongs to the whole church and is not the function of just a few or of an agency,” says Father Ioan Sauca, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

The visit of the pope to the World Council of Churches (WCC) has special significance, given the current situation in the Middle East and North Africa, where Christians are suffering persecution, says a member of WCC’s senior governing body.

The first World Conference on “Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights” will be held on 25 June 2018 under the Patronage of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. It will mark a new conceptual departure towards expanding the boundaries of the convergence of values, which bring the world of religions and faiths together.

On 26 January, Geneva authorities confirmed that the Area Development Plan (ADP) for the project Green Village is now in effect. The Green Village real estate project, designed by LRS Architectes SA, sets six new buildings in a park, around a restored and renovated Ecumenical Centre building.

Friday evening when the leaders of the G20 states will be meeting in Hamburg and discussing global economic, social, environmental and political issues, the churches in Germany are inviting people in Germany and all over the world to a common peace prayer.

After nearly a year of effort, archivists at the WCC have prepared a significant part of European ecumenical history for lasting preservation and use. Through their efforts, the Geneva history of the Conference of European Churches is catalogued online and ready for public use.

Researchers around the world have a new resource for studying the history of the ecumenical movement — the personal papers of Philip Potter, general secretary of the WCC from 1972 to 1984. “We hope that the WCC Archives will receive many researchers from around the world who will learn more about the ecumenical movement to which Philip significantly contributed throughout his life,” said Hans von Rütte, WCC archivist.

The average person in Europe may be having more difficulty coming to terms with the reality of migrants and refugees than ever before, said Maria Mountraki, given how close to home — literally — the influx of people has become.

“The way we handle the refugee crisis, not least the settling in and integration process, will be of utmost significance, both for the attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in the future, and for the long-term stability and sustainability of our own societies”, said Knut Vollebaek, ambassador and former Norwegian foreign minister, in his speech at the recent WCC/UN conference on Europe’s refugee crisis.

At the start of a new year of work at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, respected German theologian Jürgen Moltmann led a day-long series of presentations and discussions as a guest of the WCC on Wednesday, 13 January. He also responded to comments and questions on his new book, The Living God and the Fullness of Life (WCC Publications, 2016).

In a statement issued on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day on 10 December, the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs expresses deep concern over the many challenges that still remain in securing human dignity and rights for all.

In the wake of recent crisis with the refugees in Europe, it is “absolutely and critically necessary that all European states take their proper responsibility in terms of reception and support for people seeking refuge, safety and a better future for themselves and their families. This cannot be left only to the states where they enter first,” says the WCC general secretary.

Father Ioan Sauca of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Peter Prove, a Lutheran lawyer and international affairs expert from Australia, have been named to key staff positions in the WCC.