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World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay continued his visit in Lebanon on 21 March, focusing on meeting with heads of churches to pray and work together. 

As World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay began a visit to Lebanon on 20 March, his agenda included a private meeting with His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay will visit Lebanon from 19-22 March, to commemorate the 50th jubilee of the Middle East Council of Churches and meet with all WCC member churches from Lebanon and Syria. 

On the 2024 International Day of Human Fraternity, observed 5 February, special events—including the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity—focused on bridging divides and promoting a culture of peace. 

The Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC), marking the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, is to take place in Egypt in October 2025 at the invitation of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

“COP27 is a critical occasion for governments to together re-envision, develop, commit to and implement a roadmap towards a fossil fuel-free, post-growth, equitable and sustainable tomorrow,” said Bishop Arnold Temple of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone, representing the interfaith liaison group, to the High-Level Ministerial Segment of the 27^th Session of Conference of the Parties (COP27).

During an ecumenical prayer, people of many faiths gathered during COP27 to confess, lament, and express hope for the future. 

The World Council of Churches and its partners hosted a side event during COP27 that explored “Delivering the promise: How to ensure present and future adaptation needs are addressed.”

World Council of Churches Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grief and extended condolences in the wake of a church fire in Egypt that killed at least 41 people, 18 of them children.

In a bridge-building visit to member churches in Lebanon, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visited Beirut on 7 July, meeting with church leaders as well as the Middle East Council of Churches to hear and carry a message for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August-8 September.

A “Religious Consultation on Social Cohesion in Iraq,” held 13-15 in Beirut, released a final communiqué, the fruit of wide interreligious participation that included religious and ethnic leaders of all Iraqi components working together for peace in Iraq and the Middle East.

Middle East Council of Churches secretary general Dr Michel Abs welcomed World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca on 14 December at the headquarters of the Middle East Council of Churches General Secretariat in Beirut. The president of the National Evangelical Union in Lebanon and president of the Council for the Evangelical Family, H.E. Rev. Dr Habib Badr, as well the General Secretariat team in Beirut, also received Sauca.

On 15 December, Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches paid a visit to His Beatitude John X, Patriarch of the Antioch and All the East at the patriarchal residence in Balamand, Lebanon.  

An interfaith consultation held 12-16 December in Beirut, Lebanon, offered the chance for participants from different traditions to share their vision for social and religious cohesion in Iraq, assessing the current context and envisioning the way forward.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed solidarity with the people and churches of Lebanon on the anniversary of the explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands, and has left the whole nation still coping with the trauma and economic fallout.

The Middle East Council of Churches, based in Beirut, Lebanon, has been the convener for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022 drafting group. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican have now published the material in several languages.

Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”

Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”

A webinar hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 26 November will explore “Conflict Zones and Covid-19: A call to compassion.” Speakers from Cameroon, Nigeria, South Sudan, Lebanon, Belarus and Colombia will offer their insights on how conflict exacerbates the conditions for contracting and treating COVID-19 among civilians caught in the crossfire, especially women.