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A seminar in Chiang Mai, Thailand, “Ecumenical Diakonia, Churches’ Response to Sustainable Development Goals in Asia,” is taking place 24-26 October. Jointly organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia, the seminar is the third in a series of eight taking place across Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

Participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 2019 Eco School in Asia have pledged to serve as “Eco Ambassadors” who will protect our waters, promote food sovereignty, health and wellbeing and stand for climate justice with a sense of urgency.

More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, addressed young people attending an Eco-School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, noting that large numbers of people in Asia don’t have access to safe drinking water.

Twenty-seven young people from 11 countries across Asia officially began the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The school will run from 4-17 November, exploring water, food, and climate justice.

A consultation jointly organized by the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand has reiterated the need to combat sexual abuse and exploitation of children. About 40 child rights activists and representatives of churches as well as organizations working on the rights and dignity of children from various countries and regions across Asia committed to sensitize churches in Asia to be engaged in child rights advocacy.

Twenty-seven young ecumenists from across Asia are currently attending the month-long Asian Ecumenical Institute organized by the Christian Conference of Asia. The programme aims to provide ecumenical formation and leadership development training for prospective church and ecumenical leaders. It is being held at the Christian Conference of Asia headquarters in Payap University Campus in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The third edition of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice will be held 4-17 November 2019 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, hosted by the Christian Conference of Asia. This year, the Eco-School will focus on Asia and therefore only open to Asians. Deadline for applications for WCC Eco-School 2019 for Asia on Water, Food and Climate Justice extended to 31 July 2019.

An international ecumenical consultation held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 20-23 May, gave serious attention to the plight of stateless and trafficked people, and how to better preserve their human rights. The consultation, organized by the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches, drew participants from various parts of Asia.

“It is not God’s will that the earth is destroyed. We the creatures, we who are supposed to be stewards of creation, are unjustly self-destructive”, read the sermon of the Rt. Rev. Arnold C. Temple, president of the All Africa Conference of Churches, at the opening service of World Council of Churches (WCC) Lenten Campaign “Seven Weeks for Water”, on 5 March, in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

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.

Sitting in a tent at the Souda camp, on the island of Chios in Greece, a Pakistani family of 12 recalls the lives they had in their home country. They had everything except safety. Muhammed and his wife, Asia, along with their 10 children, fled their home country in search of a place where they weren’t constantly fearing for their lives.

How can we begin building peace in an era of religious extremism and acts of terror? Start by reaching out in your own neighborhood, suggests Rev. Arshad Gill, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan.

How and in which ways are money and finance shaping the world economy and society? What ought to be the roles of money and finance and what can we do together as faith communities to make the prevailing international financial architecture more just and compassionate?

Church leaders from seven countries currently making historic choices for or against outlawing nuclear weapons will embark on a pilgrimage in early August to the two Japanese cities that were decimated by atomic bombs 70 years ago.

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.

The recent killing of a Christian couple by an angry mob in Pakistan has prompted condemnation from the WCC. The victims had been accused by community members of desecrating the Qur’an.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed profound concern over the rejection of an appeal against the death sentence for a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, convicted under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. To promote tolerance, religious harmony and protection of the rights of religious minorities, Tveit said it is important that justice is ensured in cases like that of Asia Bibi.

The WCC Executive Committee has condemned the use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles saying that they pose “serious threats to humanity” and the “right to life” while setting “dangerous precedents in inter-state relations”.

In an open letter to the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the WCC general secretary expressed “profound distress” over a series of bomb attacks that have occurred within the last week in Pakistan, killing many people including worshippers at the All Saints Church in Peshawar.