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On 14 February, the religious leaders of Cyprus issued a joint statement on the historic Church of St James in the Buffer Zone. Torrential rains over the past weeks caused the collapse of the bell tower and part of the wall of the 10th century church.

Η διχοτόμηση της Κύπρου από το 1974 αποτελεί ένα από τα διαιωνιζόμενα προβλήματα του οποίου η επίλυση βρίσκεται στα χέρια των Ηνωμένων Εθνών. Παρά τις πρόσφατες αβέβαιες ειρηνευτικές διαπραγματεύσεις, υπάρχει ακόμα ελπίδα για επίλυση του αδιεξόδου και ενοποίηση της Μεγαλονήσου. Η Εκκλησία της Κύπρου, ιδρυτικό μέλος του Παγκόσμιου Συμβουλίου Εκκλησιών (ΠΣΕ), αγωνίζεται για την ενότητα της Κύπρου, μαζί με άλλες τοπικές εκκλησίες. Αναγνωρίζει, ωστόσο, ότι η αρχική πρόκληση βρίσκεται στην επούλωση των τραυμάτων τα οποία προκλήθηκαν από την τουρκική εισβολή πριν από 44 χρόνια.

As it concluded its meeting in Cyprus, held from 9-16 January, the WCC Assembly Planning Committee released a report to the WCC Executive Committee detailing building blocks for the 11th WCC Assembly, to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2021.

In a speech at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly Planning Committee (APC) meeting in Cyprus this week, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit reflected on the theme of the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

On 14-16 December, the Conference of European Churches and Cumberland Lodge in the UK will host an Ecumenical Conference on Human Rights with the theme “Towards Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East: Challenges and Opportunities.”

Respect for the other lies at the heart of peace education and was a key thread through a debate entitled “Education for Peace in a multi-religious world”. It was held on the 2018 World Human Rights Day at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

The International Commission for Anglican–Orthodox Theological Dialogue released a communiqué after a meeting in Larnaca, Cyprus from 13-20 October.

Three weeks have now passed since this year’s edition of the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden was wrapped up and delegates from all over the world headed home, inspired to “float” the issues, as the WCC Ecumenical Water Network chairperson, Bishop Arnold Temple from Sierra Leone, put it.

Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land accepted a “Building Bridges of Understanding” award on 12 September at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. The award is organized by the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

To mark the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, sport demonstrations, cultural activities, and a #whitecard torch relay, with which the WCC and some of its partner organizations are linked, will be held in Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan on 6 April.

The WCC Executive Committee met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November to approve the 2018 plan and budget and prepare for renewal of the WCC strategic plan. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s involvement in Palestine and Israel by learning more about the particular situation in Jordan and the Middle East, then discussing the challenges of the churches and the WCC response. The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, All Palestine and Jordan, Theophilos III, welcomed the group.

The WCC Executive Committee has issued a statement expressing concern over the ways in which church institutions and properties in Jerusalem are threatened as a result of contracts of disputed legality, the efforts of radical settler groups, and policies of the government of Israel.

While celebrating new steps taken towards global elimination of nuclear weapons, the WCC Executive Committee also fears the cycle of confrontation on the Korean peninsula might slide into nuclear warfare.

The WCC Executive Committee, during its meeting in Amman, issued a “Statement on Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and on 2017 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.”

“The Amazon, the green heart of the Earth, is mourning and the life it sustains is withering,” begins a statement released by the World Council of Churches Executive Committee as it met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November.

At its meeting in Amman, Jordan, the WCC Executive Committee issued a “Minute on the situation in Zimbabwe” as developments in Zimbabwe have led to the resignation of President Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power.

Speakers opening the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee meeting in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November, emphasized peace, justice and unity as the WCC discerns its way forward and evaluates its past work.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee will meet in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November to approve the 2018 plans and budget, prepare for renewal of the WCC strategic plan, to discern the way forward for the WCC’s involvement in Palestine and Israel for justice and peace by learning more about the particular situation in Jordan and the Middle East, then discussing the challenges of the churches and the WCC response. The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, All Palestine and Jordan, Theophilos III, will welcome the group.

Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, the WCC president for Africa, the Rev. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.

Religious leaders in Cyprus stood together against violence towards women and girls, releasing a first-ever official joint statement on 8 March to mark International Women’s Day.