Search results

Norwegian churches added their voice to the chorus of concern for the people of the Amazon as the coronavirus increasingly spreads. In a letter to the Brazilian embassy, the Church of Norway and the Roman Catholic Church in Norway jointly expressed deep solidarity with the people of Brazil.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met last week with Rev. Miguel Salanic, from Guatemala, in Geneva, Switzerland. They discussed the role of indigenous people as part of the living WCC fellowship and the preparations leading up to the WCC 11th Assembly to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2021.

On 18-22 March, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission gathered at Faculdade Unida de Vitoria in Brazil for a consultation entitled “Towards a Global Vision of the Church”.

World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has told participants at the Global Christian Forum’s Third (GCF) Global Gathering in Bogota, Colombia that the GCF is remarkable in building trust among participants and opening ways for new forms of cooperation.

“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.

“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.

Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church interacted with the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC on 22 June during their week-long meeting at the Caraiman Monastery in the southern Carpathian Mountains of Romania.

Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, professor of ecumenical theology at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland and acting director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order, has been confirmed as the new Faith and Order director.

Challenged by Christians from Brazil to strive for greater respect for religious and cultural diversity, churches are reflecting together on the gospel of John as they celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The vision of Christian unity accompanied by respect for diversity has inspired this year’s prayer materials produced in Brazil for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Climate justice has been the focal point of the WCC advocacy strategy at 20th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which concluded on 12 December in Lima, Peru.

Indigenous peoples have a role to play in the struggle against climate change, indigenous faith leaders said during a panel at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.

At the Central Committee meeting of the WCC, leadership of the Council’s consultative bodies was announced. These bodies will steer through the work of the WCC in accomplishing the call from its 10th Assembly to engage in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”. The WCC assembly was held in the Republic of Korea in 2013.

In an ecumenical harvest, a spate of European and North American church bodies are entering agreements recognizing each other’s baptisms.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has been globally celebrated this year with prayers, reflections, ecumenical services and events focusing on Paul’s question in Corinthians 1 “Has Christ been divided?” a theme for this year’s prayer materials, prepared by the Canadian churches.

At the recent World Social Forum, ecumenical voices warned about the grave consequences of extraction of natural resources and mining, which they say generate a tremendous amount of social and ecological debt.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern about the alarming increase in threats to human security in Latin America. The committee has called for renewed efforts by churches to ensure peaceful and just societies.