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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock at receiving reports of violent attacks against churches and Christians in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

In a letter to the China Christian Council, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Plllay expressed deep sympathy and concern for churches and people in China in the wake of Typhoon Doksuri.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned a bomb attack in Pakistan that killed 40 people and injured 200 others—including children—as they gathered for a political rally in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajur district. At least 40 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded, including children. The attack is one of the worst in recent years.

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed deep sadness and concern upon receiving the news of the murder of lay pastor William Siraj and the wounding of Rev. Patrick Naeem, the priest in charge of the Martyrs of All Saints Church, Diocese of Peshawar, on 30 January. They were ambushed by two unidentified gunman as they were returning from Sunday worship in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

Former Bossey student Rev. Jianmei Jing who works at the Jingling Protestant Church in Hongkou near Shanghai in China has shown that masking your intention can be a truly Christian act. At significant sacrifice during the current COVID-19 pandemic when they were in short supply, she managed to get hold of 300 face masks and sent them to the Bossey community who she knew needed them in Switzerland.

In a 14 April statement, the All African Conference of Churches condemned racist xenophobic discrimination against Africans in China.

Even as international tension mounts, religious leaders from North and South Korea renewed their exchange during a December meeting that kept the push for peace alive. Members of the Steering Committee of the Ecumenical Forum for Peace, Reunification and Cooperation on the Korean Peninsula – including delegations from the Korean Christian Federation (KCF) of North Korea and of the National Council of Churches in South Korea (NCCK) – met in Shenyang, China, on 2-3 December 2019.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit “received with joy” the news of the verdict which has resolved the long pending case of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman convicted and sentenced to death under Pakistan's blasphemy laws in 2010.

Each year students from all over the world arrive at Bossey near Geneva for a three-month language training course to pave their way for ecumenical studies that follow on straight after. “The title captures the goal of the course,” says Father Lawrence Iwuamadi, the Nigerian priest who studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is academic dean of the Ecumenical Institute.

Bishop John Victor Samuel, age 87, one of the pioneers of the Church of Pakistan and a towering ecumenical stalwart, passed away in Multan, Pakistan on 30 August. His funeral was held in Multan on 2 September.

Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity (YATRA) began at the Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre, Hong Kong on 7 July. Drawing young women and men from across the World Council of Churches (WCC) fellowship in Asia as well as theological institutions, the focus of this year’s YATRA is ‘Passionately Christian and Compassionately Interreligious’.

Since a small scholarship got her involved in the ecumenical movement, Sana Jennifer’s future has been staked out. She started as a bishop’s secretary and office administrator at the Diocese of Raiwind, Church of Pakistan, in Lahore three years ago and was appointed youth programme coordinator this year.

Christian unity was the overarching theme of a visit from a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation with the China Christian Council (CCC) and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) in Shanghai on 9 January.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and a WCC delegation are visiting member churches in China from 7-16 January.

In a brief interview, Tveit describes the joy of uniting with the China Christian Council to begin celebration of the WCC’s 70th anniversary.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and a WCC delegation will visit member churches in China 7-16 January. The historic visit will begin the celebration of the WCC’s 70th anniversary. The WCC delegation, in addition to Tveit, includes WCC Asia president Dr Sang Chang and Rev. Dr Peniel Rajkumar, WCC programme executive for Interreligious Dialogue.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit condemned an attack at a church in Pakistan that killed at least eight people and injured dozens of others. Tveit expressed sorrow for the lives lost in the suicide bomb and gun attack.

The genuine human cost of peace-making was made apparent to a group of international guests and Pakistani nationals gathered at the Christian Study Centre (CSC) Rawalpindi 5-8 November as part of a Jubilee celebration held to mark 50 years since its founding.

Friday evening when the leaders of the G20 states will be meeting in Hamburg and discussing global economic, social, environmental and political issues, the churches in Germany are inviting people in Germany and all over the world to a common peace prayer.