Held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – a city of socioeconomic contrasts – from 21 August to 1 September, the 6th edition of the Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics, and Management for an Economy of Life (GEM School 2023) gathered 24 participants to rethink economic systems for a more equitable, sustainable planet.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is among signatories on a joint letter to H.E. Sri Narendra Modi—prime minister of the Republic of India and chair of the Group of Twenty (G20)—which urges G20 leaders to adopt a New International Financial and Economic Architecture.
In the lively urban setting of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, theologians, church delegates, activists, and individuals attending the Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics, and Management for an Economy of Life (GEM School) came together between August 21 and 23. They convened for a deep and meaningful discussion at the NIFEA Consultation on Labour.
The Church of South India, through a campaign on climate-resilient schools, has been inspiring and educating students and teachers through a series of one-hour sessions which began in May this year and will run until the United Nations climate talks in November.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed concern and extended prayers for those who continue to be affected by severe monsoon-related flooding and landslides in India. More than 150 people have perished in western India, and there is extensive damage.
During an online morning prayer service on 16 November, Bishop Arnold Temple, chairperson of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network and the president of All Africa Conference of Churches, reflected on World Toilet Day, which will be observed this year on 19 November.
Even though flood survivors are displaced in some 2,000 relief camps across Kerala in south India, many of them observed the indigenous Malayali festival of Onam on 25 August in whatever way they could. The traditional festival, for thousands, carried an even more poignant meaning because the holiday celebrates the return of joy to the land: the story of the return of King Mahabali, considered to be a very kind and generous ruler, during a “golden period” in Kerala.
As Kerala, the southern state of India, nicknamed “God’s Own Country,” battles one of the worst flood disasters in a century, various religious communities have opened their doors to help homeless people.
Climate-induced loss and damage is one of the key points being raised by faith groups during COP21. A discussion panel and a demonstration held at COP21 in early December brought to light many facets of this issue.
Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.
Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.
Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples' movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.