World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock upon receiving the news of the deaths of two aid workers in an attack that injured three others, all from the non-governmental organization HEKS/EPER, on 1 February in southern Ukraine.
When the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, churches had already been responding to humanitarian need in the country for eight years, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The work being undertaken by churches in meeting the needs of those displaced by the war is not new, but the scale is staggering as 14 million people have been displaced in the six months since the invasion began.
In a public statement, the World Council of Churches executive committee reiterated the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine, and the need for addressing growing food insecurity worldwide.
The future of diaconal work in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in the context of the war in Ukraine and aftermath of the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia, was discussed this week at the meeting organized by Interdiac, the International Academy for Diakonia and Social Action, Central and Eastern Europe in Český Těšín, Czech Republic.
A delegation from ACT Alliance and the World Council of Churches (WCC) visited Hungary, Ukraine and Romania on 14-18 March, focusing on humanitarian needs and church response.
As tension grows in the long-running regional dispute over a giant dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s main tributaries, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appealed to all WCC member churches in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan and around the world to pray for a peaceful solution to the problem.
The World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network (WCC-EWN) invites you to use the season of Lent to reflect on water. Since 2008, EWN has been providing weekly theological reflections and other resources on water for the seven weeks of Lent and for World Water Day on 22 March. This year, the focus is on Latin America.