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During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca congratulated the Baptist Church in the Bengal region on 225 years.

Churches from the Pacific Islands and across the world continued to voice their prayers of support and care as Tonga copes with the aftermath of the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on 14 January, which triggered 15-metre tsunami waves that hit the archipelago.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca extended prayers and condolences to people in Tonga, and the churches and rescue workers helping them, in the wake of a massive volcanic eruption smothered the Pacific islands in ash, cut power and severed communications.

The fourth edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held 18-24 January 2021 in the Pacific region in five countries (Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu & Solomon Islands).

In a letter of solidarity to church leaders in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga and the Pacific, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Fr Ioan Sauca expressed sadness and concern over the recent devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Harold.

Taking into consideration the growing global concerns and implications of the current spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the World Council of Churches (WCC) will postpone its annual Ecumenical Continuing Formation on Youth seminar in the Pacific to the end of the year 2020, with a date to be announced. The event was scheduled for June 2020 in Tonga.
The WCC is taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including cancelling or postponing certain meetings and limiting travels.

Applications are open to young people for participation in a June 2020 World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Continuing Formation seminar. To be held in Tonga, the seminar will focus on transformative masculinity and femininity.

The deadline for applications is 20 March.

More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the loss of Bishop Barnabas D. Mondal, know for his support of theological education in South Asia, and for being the first national bishop and the former moderator of the Church of Bangladesh. He passed away on 29 June in Dhaka.

From 29 January to 1 February, 30 representatives from various faith traditions gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh for a workshop on “Interfaith Reflections on Just Transitions: Linking Climate and Economic Justice”. The workshop was organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Council for World Mission and was hosted by the National Council of Churches in Bangladesh.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent a message of condolence to the family and church community of Bishop Nibaron Das, chairman of the Bangladesh Methodist Church. Das passed away on 23 November.

“The seeds of peace come from the ground.” That is the vision that Rev. Dr Shanta Premawardhana, former director of Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation at the World Council of Churches and now president of OMNIA Institute for Contextual Leadership, tries to follow with his organization.

“You are the first. You are the first among all the member churches of the World Council of Churches around the world to greet the dawn of every new day and to praise God,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a sermon delivered 6 August at the Centenary Chapel of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Nuku’alofa.

The first of a series of 12 monthly Bible studies inspired by themes related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is now available online on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

In Tonga there is lot of water to see, but not necessarily a lot for people to use. Mele’ana Puloka, a member of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga, is World Council of Churches president for the Pacific, living on the islands that have a population of about 106,000.

Two major crises have marked the months since the WCC called Katalina Tahaafe-Williams to work in Geneva on its migration, indigenous, and multicultural ministry programmes. When she took up the job in October, the European refugee crisis was in full flow. Then in November, terrorists attacked Paris.

To promote strong measures against climate change, the WCC and the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights organized a side event to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”