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As the World Council of Churches prepares for its 11th Assembly in 2021, a special “virtual” issue of the WCC’s journal International Review of Mission is now available online presenting a set of 12 articles published following the WCC’s previous assembly in 2013 in Busan, Republic of Korea.

A German delegation comprised of representatives of municipalities, church leaders and prominent civil society organizations recently visited the Greek island of Lesbos, already hosting tens of thousands of migrants and displaced people, and was on site when the news of the opening of the Turkish border was announced and the first new arrivals were appearing.

An interreligious conference exploring religion and migration was hosted from 27-30 January in Sweden by Religions for Peace co-president and Church of Sweden Archbishop Dr Antje Jackelén.

Impacts of the climate change and the lingering health and environmental effects of nuclear testing on the countries in the Pacific region are among the issues to be discussed at the meeting of the WCC’s Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), convened from 19 to 21 February in Brisbane, Australia.

Beate Fagerli, World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly coordinator, answers the most frequently asked questions about the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly in 2021.

Highlights of African missiology will be explored during an event to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 13 February.

The WCC has welcomed four new programme executives.

The annual meeting of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) was hosted by the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, and at the nearby Chateau de Bossey from 6-7 February.

Jürgen Moltmann looked astonished when he saw his name on the list of contributors. In a recent dinner at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, my colleague Stephen Brown, the editor of The Ecumenical Review, surprised him with a 50-year old brochure.

Retired Bishop Gunnar Stålsett was convicted by an Oslo court as on 19 December, for having offered work and income to a rejected refugee who couldn’t be sent back to Eritrea. That became illegal in 2011, but Stålsett described himself as a conscientious objector to a law he views as simply wrong. Bishop Stålsett’s case attracted more media coverage in Norway and worldwide, after he was convicted of violating immigration law.

A “Mission from the Margins” group gathered recently to explore how to discern God’s mission in a fractured and unjust world. The working group of the World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission and Evangelism comprised 13 commissioners, as well as members of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN). The group also reflected deeply on the theme for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

An 84-year-old former bishop of Oslo, Gunnar Stålsett, was ordered to appear in court because he illegally employed a woman from Eritrea who’d been denied asylum and wound up as an undocumented and rejected refugee.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar held on 2 December explored the theme “Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination in the Pacific". Participants asks challenging questions such as: What is institutional racism? What is unconscious racism?

“Nationalist power politics is no longer interested in truth. They wage war under the guise of peace, a hybrid form of war with economic sanctions and cyber wars, fake news and lies,” affirmed Prof. Dr Jürgen Moltmann at the opening of his public lecture at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, 2 December.

A World Council of Churches webinar held on 25 November with the theme “Racism, Xenophobia and discrimination in the Middle-East Context” drew enthusiastic participants from the broader region inhabited by 411 million people.

A community of indigenous theologians has offered a message, “Our Living Word for all Peoples,” that holds particular meaning amid violence suffered by indigenous people in the Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.The message speaks to the interrelatedness of all that surrounds us. “We flatly denounce the criminalization of our bodies, struggles, and resistances,” reads the message. “This criminalization is supported by an old colonial religious prejudice that equates us with demons, terrorists, and criminals, with the intent to disqualify bodies, struggles, and resistances.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) invites media to attend a discussion with Dr Hrayr Jebejian, General Secretary of the Bible Society in the Gulf on Tuesday 19 November 2019, from 3:00-4:30 pm, on the topics of his latest book on migration and the challenges of the Middle East context.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) continues to amplify the voice of the indigenous Papuans in Indonesia, who are oppressed by racism and discrimination.

Concerned about the escalating crisis of violence, racism and discrimination against indigenous Papuans in Indonesia, a side event co-sponsored by the WCC was convened during a fall session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss patterns that are oppressing and displacing Papuans.

In a message to those gathered in Hampton, Virginia (USA), World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit explored “Race, Repentance, and Reparation: An Ecumenical Opportunity.”

As the Finnish Mission Council celebrated its centenary on 12 October in Tampere, Finland, the Lutheran Archbishop of Finland, Dr Tapio Luoma, celebrated the witness in mission of the earlier missionaries and generations. Luoma also urged every generation to find answers to the question of how to live fully as a disciple of Jesus and fulfil his commission.