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As part of a Pilgrimage Reference Group meeting in Bogota, Colombia from 6-10 February, a WCC delegation visited the headquarters of the Conference of Latin American Bishops (CELAM).

“The Amazon, the green heart of the Earth, is mourning and the life it sustains is withering,” begins a statement released by the World Council of Churches Executive Committee as it met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November.

From 15-20 September, about 40 Ecumenical Officers of member churches from all over the world spent four days discussing and sharing common issues at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey and the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

“This is another sign of hope from Colombia to the whole world”, said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) after the announcement that the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) have agreed to a temporary ceasefire.

"Since 1983 Argentina is enjoying the longest period of democracy in our history – it is a great achievement and that is why we need to take care of it." Pride in the peaceful change from military dictatorship to democracy 35 years ago and concern over recent developments in her country was the message that Estela Barnes de Carlotto brought with her to a meeting in Geneva reinvigorating the friendship between the WCC and the Association of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, of which she is the president.

More than 30 young adults coming from different countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will gather in Colombia to reflect and plan actions on eco-justice and peace building. “Young people for Eco-Justice and Peace: The challenge that we accept” will be organized by the World Student Christian Federation in Latin America and the Caribbean (WSCF – LAC), a partner of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Barranquilla, from 15-18 August.

“It is imperative for churches to invest in the youth of Africa so they can take leadership in addressing these issues in the timeframe of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals”, said Prof. Dr Isabel Phiri, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary for Diakonia and Public Witness as she spoke to young people attending the first-ever WCC Eco-School in Blantyre, Malawi.

The International Reference Group (IRG) of the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN), the water justice initiative of the World Council of Churches (WCC) held its annual meeting in Malawi as the UN revealed that 2.1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.

As Rev. Pauline Wanjiru Njiru preached on 18 June at the Malawi United Methodist Church in Blantyre, she acknowledged that parenting adolescents is not an easy task.

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.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, sent a letter of condolences to the Methodist Church in Uruguay on the passing of Rev. Oscar Bolioli, on 18 June.

Some 40 participants, coming mainly from Latin American countries, attended a consultation promoted by the WCC entitled “Together Towards Life: Mission in the 21st Century”, from 30 April – 4 May, in Rosario, Argentina.

The first ever WCC Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held 24 July to 3 August, hosted by the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Blantyre Synod. Applications are now open with a deadline of 11 June (deadline extended).

The World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network (WCC-EWN) hosted the Brazilian Semiarid Articulation (ASA) on 25 April for a dialogue on human rights and water justice in Brazil. Representatives of the EWN and the ASA discussed human rights within the framework of the right to water, and they also focused on alternatives for sustainable living offered by ASA.

Working as a medical doctor in his home country Malawi seems to have given Dr Mwai Makoka ideal experience for his task of programme executive for Health and Healing at the WCC. He has experience in medical microbiology, HIV and AIDS, working for both government and church-based institutions after graduating as a doctor in Malawi, a country accustomed to working with church-run hospitals.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), received former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the Ecumenical Centre on 10 March, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world says Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi, Professor of Ecumenical Biblical Hermeneutics at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey. He was the convener of a discussion on the Anthology of African Christianity held by the WCC on 15 February with a panel of experts at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

“WCC notes the concern expressed by Movimiento Ecuménico por los Derechos Humanos (MEDH) and many other civil society organizations in Argentina that Milagro Sala, a prominent political activist, social and indigenous leader, is being arbitrarily detained because of her activism, though other charges are laid against her”, wrote Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in a letter on 16 December, to the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina (IEMA), in support of MEDH in its claim regarding Sala.

“The Nobel Peace Prize awarded today to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is a sign of hope and encouragement on the path to peace, and towards the end of the 52-year-long conflict”, said Mr. Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), commenting on the announcement of the award by the Norwegian Nobel Committee earlier today.