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In a speech before the annual assembly of the Protestant Federation of France, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on the questions: Where does the ecumenical movement stand today and where should the WCC take in it in the future?

The Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCC) met in Lyon, France for its annual plenary session from 2-5 September. The group released a communique focusing on migration and peace building, outlining areas for theological reflection and cooperation.

After a large fire broke out on 15 April at the Notre Dame cathedral, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed shock over the damage to one the most famous landmarks in Paris, and the seat of the archbishop of Paris.

The Council of Christian Churches in France (CÉCEF) is encouraging local churches to support a recently created Green Church environmental certification label, asking that offerings made at ecumenical services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity go to help finance the initiative.

A group of Protestant pilgrims are exercising their legs in an untypical fashion these days: by stepping in the pedals. Their 14-day Bike Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace winds along both sides of the Rhine from Constance to Worms.

The Taizé religious community from the east of France is meeting over the New Year’s period in Riga, Latvia and world church leaders from many traditions have bestowed greetings of hope on its annual gathering.

The Faith and Order Commission’s convergence text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision” continues to be discussed by churches on a journey toward revealing the unity of the church and how it is inextricably bound on a pilgrimage of justice and peace.

Hundreds of people from many nations and confessions, among them pastors, priests, laity, nuns, bishops, archbishops and cardinals, joined in a service for God’s Creation at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris during the United Nations climate conference (COP 21) being held in the city.

Faith campaigners have presented a total of 1,780,528 signatures gathered worldwide calling for decisive action to curb global warming. The petitions were delivered to leaders of the United Nations COP 21 climate conference beginning its work in Paris.

Violence in the name of religion echoed in the distance, demanding a response, through the November 2015 meeting of the 25-member Executive Committee of the WCC in Bogis-Bossey and nearby Geneva, Switzerland as it planned the work of the Council in the coming years.

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was to have been the principal focus of the service of Sunday morning prayer on 15 November in the cathedral church of Saint-Pierre at the summit of Geneva’s old town. Following terror attacks in Beirut and Paris killing and wounding hundreds of civilians over the preceding days, the prayers of the Protestant Church of Geneva and the WCC Executive Committee took on a new dimension.

The WCC “is moving forward on our common pilgrimage, even as we face many challenges,” general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit affirmed in his semi-annual report to the WCC Executive Committee.

"In COP21 we decide whether the glass is half full or half empty, but the glass must be transparent", tweeted climate activist Yeb Saño at the end of a day full of activities engaging leadership and staff members of the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation and ACT Alliance, at the Ecumenical Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland.

World leaders will meet at the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris from 30 November to 11 December. Faith groups around the world are building awareness of the importance of reaching a binding and ambitious agreement at the talks. In October, WCC members have taken part in climate activities in Germany.

In a recent statement, religious leaders called for an ambitious climate agreement, reminding all governments to commit to emission cuts and climate risk reduction. They promised to continue working for climate justice, including divestment from fossil energy.

In Taizé, the week-long Gathering for a New Solidarity, for solidarity with the poor and excluded, reached its climax on the weekend of 15-16 August. The ecumenical community is celebrating in 2015 the seventy-fifth anniversary of its foundation by Roger Schutz, as well as the one hundredth anniversary of his birth (on 12 August 1915). Also 16 August was the tenth anniversary of his death.

A message focusing on the theme “Ora et labora”, meaning “pray and work”, was shared by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, at the 75th anniversary of the Taizé Community, commemorating the life of the community’s founder Brother Roger.

As organizations worldwide intensify their work on issues of climate justice, and the clock is ticking for new climate commitments to take shape, members of the WCC Working Group on Climate Change have gathered for a four-day meeting to strategize for effective climate justice action and for strong participation of faith-based initiatives at COP21.