Search results

The World Council of Churches (WCC) contributed insights at side events of the World Social Forum titled “Debt Crisis, Food Sovereignty, and Climate Change,” and “Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, Agro-Ecology Energy, and Natural Resources.”

At the World Social Forum 2024, taking place 15-19 February in Nepal, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will have an active role in this platform for the convergence of a diverse range of participants, including social movements, laborers, farmers, civil society groups, marginalized communities, and those affected by the impacts of neoliberal capitalism and privatization. 

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.

On 14 February, the Global Christian Forum Committee concluded a fruitful five-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where priorities were carved out and future directions of the network outlined.

With simple, compelling messages, leaders and friends of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance are featured in a new five-minute video offering an overview of the EAA’s work and the serious global need for advocacy related to HIV and AIDS and food security.

A declaration emphasizing the need for greater convergence in the struggles for justice and rights of communities, particularly for land, water, forests, natural resources, livelihood and identity, was the outcome of a meeting in Nepal, involving civil society organizations and social movements.

Young ecumenical leaders from Asia have met in Siam Reap, Cambodia to examine how religious traditions can offer resources to overcome religious violence in a changing Asian context.

The WCC and the Christian Conference of Asia are deeply saddened by the news of the tragic earthquake that has rocked central Nepal. Official reports confirm that at least 1800 people are known to have died in Nepal after the devastating 7.9 magnitude quake, making it the nation’s worst disaster in more than 80 years.

The newly published issue of Current Dialogue is now available online. Along with key documents from the WCC 10th Assembly, the issue includes several strong pieces addressing some thorny issues in contemporary inter-religious encounter and dialogue, including the recent Malaysian prohibition of Christian use of the name Allah for God, the relationship of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, the particular difficulties in dialogue among the Abrahamic traditions, and the limits of dialogue itself.

Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.

In South Asia, where conflicts are often fueled by religion, a WCC conference stressed the role of Christians and Hindus as eminent stakeholders in their common search for justice and peace – beyond majority and minority politics.

The WCC has expressed its support for an appeal against a Malaysian court’s decision in October 2013 forbidding the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. This development, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, risks jeopardizing “fundamental values and the long history of multi-religious co-existence in Malaysia”.

The plenary on justice at the WCC 10th Assembly brings into focus the core of its theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.” Following on diverse reflections from around the world on Christian unity, Asia and mission, the assembly plenary on 6 November in Busan, Republic of Korea, highlighted struggles for justice.

A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.