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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay held productive talks with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Anglican Communion leaders.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay served as a keynote speaker at the Ninth Conference for Research in Diakonia and Christian Social Practice, hosted by the International Society for the Research and Study of Diakonia and Christian Social Practice and VID Specialized University. The theme of the conference was “Contested Spaces of Diaconia – Seeking Justice, Safety and Well-Being.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca visited the Church of Norway on 23 November, expressing joy at being able to see the church offices for the first time and for the church’s support leading up to the WCC 11th Assembly.

A special COP26 service involving Christian churches and organisations from around the world will be held at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. (7 November). The event, which has been organised by Glasgow Churches Together, will be attended by guests from countries including Australia, Fiji, and Zimbabwe, as a show of solidarity for global climate justice.

As the years change over the World Council of Churches interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca on 31 December condemned the vicious Yemen attack hitting civilians. Sauca also expressed solidarity and prayers with churches and responders who continue to help hundreds of injured and traumatized people of the earthquake in Croatia and Norway landslide.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met with the general of The Salvation Army, Brian Peddle, at The Salvation Army International Headquarters in London. The two leaders focused on the relationship between The Salvation Army and the WCC, and on the upcoming 11th WCC Assembly to be held in 2021 in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Erhard Hermansen is general secretary of the Christian Council of Norway, which has been collaborating closely with churches in Sudan and South Sudan for nearly 30 years. Hermansen attended the South Sudan Council of Churches 2019 Assembly in late August, and shares his reflections and hopes below.

As the Anglican Consultative Council convened in Hong Kong on 1 May, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered a reflection on Anglican contributions to unity.

Matthew Ross, World Council of Churches programme executive for Diakonia and Capacity Building, spoke at the opening of the academic year at VID University in Oslo, Norway on 13 August.

Visiting Geneva on 20-22 September, representatives of the Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations and the leadership of Norwegian Church Aid dedicated time with colleagues at the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation and ACT Alliance, to explore and learn more about ecumenical work around the world.

In a country where Christians are in clear minority, often suffering discrimination, and in a context that has seen repeated frictions and violence between people of different religious traditions, the Church of Norway and Church of Pakistan have broken new ecumenical ground during a recent week in Lahore, Pakistan.

In view of the current refugee crisis, European churches are being encouraged to deepen their efforts in receiving, supporting and protecting refugees who arrive in the region. This call was made in a letter issued jointly by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe.

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.