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During a visit to Angola held 21-28 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) staff met with local church and community leaders to discuss how preventing obstetric fistula is a matter of human rights.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the loss and celebrating the life of Rev. Dr Jose Belo Chipenda, an African theologian and ecumenical leader.

Chipenda passed away on 10 January in Canada at the age of 95. 

Anglican bishops across the world have signed a petition calling for an immediate halt to oil drilling in the Kavango Basin, Namibia, by Canadian Company ReConAfrica.

Rev. Dr Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World. She also serves on the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee. She recently participated in a rally and march in Washington, DC, where thousands gathered to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963 that included Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream" speech.

The Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence has been intensified in Namibia, bringing awareness of the heightened risk of violence against women and children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

A statement from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee commemorated the quad-centennial of the forced transatlantic voyage of enslaved African peoples from Angola to Jamestown, Virginia (USA).

As a result of a consultation on 9-10 November in Washington, D.C., Pan African Women of Faith have released a Call to Action toward a vision of sustainable communities and an end to hunger and poverty.

In 2018 we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches. In order to create a lively firsthand account of the ecumenical fellowship and of our shared journey, member churches have contributed stories of people, events, achievements and even failures, all of which have deepened our collective search for Christian unity. This story was written by Olle Eriksson, a Namibian who worked for 35 years (1968 – 2003) with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission and Lutheran World Federation.

As the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) gathered for its 12th Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia from 10-16 May, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit presented greetings on behalf of the World Council of Churches, a worldwide fellowship of 348 member churches which represents more than half a billion Christians around the world.

The first ever WCC Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held 24 July to 3 August, hosted by the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Blantyre Synod. Applications are now open with a deadline of 11 June (deadline extended).

Almost 800 participants, including 324 delegates, are gathering in Windhoek from 10-16 May for the Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the highest LWF decision-making body that meets every six years. World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will address the plenary on 12 May.

“Statelessness renders people’s vulnerability to abuse and to denial of their rights invisible to national authorities. In this sense the right to a nationality is a threshold issue for access to protection of all other human rights - almost a 'right to have rights'”, said Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), following a regional training workshop on birth registration and gender discriminatory nationality laws in Africa, organized by the WCC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11–13 May.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a challenge for governments but for all segments of society, including churches. In many African countries churches are an authority that people listen to – it is therefore crucial that churches help eliminate the pandemic,” said Rev. Dr Luciano Chanhelela Chianeque in an interview.

A long time academic and professor of missiology at the Ecumenical Institute of Bossey, Dr Paul J. Isaak has been appointed as director of elections by President Hifikepunye Pohamba in Namibia. Isaak commenced his new position at the Electoral Commission of Namibia in September.