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“Ecclesiology and Ethics in Africa” is the theme of the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, the quarterly journal of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The content includes principal presentations made at a June 2015 conference on Ecclesiology and Ethics: the State of Ecumenical Theology in Africa, held at the University of Western Cape in South Africa.

A WCC member church in Kenya has consecrated its second woman bishop, Rev. Alice Muthoni Mutuma, on 31 January in Meru. Rev. Pauline Wanjiru Njiru, East Africa regional coordinator for the WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy, attended the service and brought greetings from WCC.

The Basel University honoured Ghanaian Methodist theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye with a doctor of theology honoris causa.

For public theology, “the essential and pressing task of the churches and theological education is to foster love, dialogue, forgiveness, reconciliation” says Prof. Dr Rudolf Von Sinner.

Dynamics of “indigenous ecological spiritualties and Christian faith” were explored at a WCC seminar in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

“HIV and AIDS is not just a challenge for governments but for all segments of society, including churches. In many African countries churches are an authority that people listen to – it is therefore crucial that churches help eliminate the pandemic,” said Rev. Dr Luciano Chanhelela Chianeque in an interview.

An ecumenical workshop held recently in Matanzas, Cuba strongly promoted life-affirming epistemologies that can help to envision and construct alternatives to inequitable and destructive socio-economic systems that prevail in today’s world.

What is our call to respond to the global water crisis? In what way is our response different from other actors? To respond to these questions within a theological framework of water justice, the Ecumenical Water Network convened theologians from around the world at the Ecumenical Institute.

A new online survey supported by the WCC aims to promote the study of issues such as the environment, climate change and food security as part of the training of future pastors, priests and other Christian leaders.

Amid the reality of migration, theological education can lead to the transformation of the church, agreed participants in a seminar organized by the WCC.

Amidst the reality of tensions often fueled by religions, a group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community. As part of an interfaith summer course sponsored by the WCC, this community wants to work for the protection of creation – a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.

At the Central Committee meeting of the WCC, leadership of the Council’s consultative bodies was announced. These bodies will steer through the work of the WCC in accomplishing the call from its 10th Assembly to engage in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”. The WCC assembly was held in the Republic of Korea in 2013.

How should the growing phenomenon of migration affect training for ministry? An upcoming seminar organized by the WCC at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey will focus on evaluating experiences and devising new approaches to theological education that can help churches understand migration as an opportunity of “being the church together”.

While churches around the world live in very different contexts and may be separated by different doctrinal teachings, they do have one concern in common: will planet earth still be a fit place for their children to live?

Justice and peace are not possible without the involvement and participation of women. To accomplish this vision the United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1325 can be an important negotiation tool for religious women's on-going work for conflict resolution and peace-building around the world.

Religion is a double-edged sword for women healing from violence and trauma, yet they find their way out of pain in amazing ways, say two scholars whose work investigates and analyses this.

Father Ioan Sauca of the Romanian Orthodox Church and Peter Prove, a Lutheran lawyer and international affairs expert from Australia, have been named to key staff positions in the WCC.

During 2014 the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey will be holding a number of seminars raising awareness on issues related to women’s concerns, justice and peace, ecology and Christian theology, interfaith relations and migrant churches.

A seminar at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland gathered diverse reflections on eco-theology, care for the creation and climate change, and how to build a sustainable world. The contributors included Christian theologians and activists as well as youth.

Christian theology regarding all people as created in God's image can help overcome the HIV and AIDS pandemic. This and other views on the impact of HIV in Africa, its gender dynamics and the role of people living with HIV, were shared by Prof. Musa W. Dube, a former consultant of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) in a recent interview.