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Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land received the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award on 24 September from the Roman Catholic Church for his interreligious peace-building efforts.

From 23-25 March, 1,600 young people from 43 countries came together in Beirut, Lebanon with the brothers of the ecumenical, monastic community of Taizé (France). Middle Eastern and Western Christians discovered how fruitful and stimulating an ecumenical exchange can be.

‘History’ and ‘Time’ were the thirteenth and fourteenth subjects covered in a workshop which took place in Erlangen, Germany, 12-14 December as part of a project “Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses.”

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.

Nayla Tabbara is a Sunni Muslim scholar. Fadi Daou is a Maronite priest and theologian. Both are from Lebanon. Together they have discovered something startling about God.

Linked to the 34th session of the Human Rights Council, the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue organized a side event on 15 March exploring "Islam and Christianity, the Great Convergence: Working jointly towards equal citizenship rights". World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit was among the panellists.

Churches in Europe have a crucial role to play in responding to the arrival of refugees in Europe, Germany's interior minister has told a gathering in Geneva of governments, United Nations agencies, church and faith groups and civil society organizations.

Mere days after terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, the theme of an interfaith meeting of Christians and Muslims at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on “Religion, Peace and Violence” was entirely appropriate, said participants.

The WCC Executive Committee has strongly condemned the latest terror attacks in Paris and Beirut.

Today 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss the refugee situation and the role of the churches in Europe.

An international conference held at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Nikos Kotzias, has gathered around 70 prominent religious, political and academic figures in Athens, Greece, this week.

To achieve just peace in the Middle East, “it is very adequate to focus on what would maintain and reinforce the cultural and religious diversity that has distinguished this region for long centuries,” said the WCC general secretary.

High officials from ancient Christian churches in the Near East have issued a common statement denouncing the emergence of armed extremist groups who “murder, shatter and violate the sacred nature of the churches” and other suffering communities in the Middle East.

After bombings on 21 May in the northern Nigerian city of Jos, in which more than one-hundred people have been killed, “heart-felt sorrow and condolences” have been expressed in a joint statement by the WCC general secretary and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan.

Christians in the Arab world “do not consider themselves as minorities, but rather want to understand themselves as full citizens of their nations, with all that this status entails in terms of duties, responsibilities and full rights.”

A WCC conference has issued a joint statement calling the churches and ecumenical actors to commit themselves to support one another in prayers and actions to support Christian presence and witness in the Middle East.

“We do not live in the mentality of the ghetto, nor in the mentality of a minority complex, nor do we live as dhimmi (dependent) people,” said Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan. “We have always been, as Arab Christians, building our societies, loyal to our countries and nationalities, bringing hope in hopeless situations.”

In an international conference on the situation of Christians in the Middle East, the WCC general secretary highlighted the significance of the cross as a symbol of hope for the global church in solidarity with Christians in the Arab world.

For the first time in their history, the patriarch of the Antiochian Orthodox Church has asked the believers to adorn the traditional Palm Sunday processions with black ribbons tied on candles rather than the usual white ribbons expressing their sadness because of the two abducted church leaders from Aleppo, Syria.