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Religious leaders uniting for climate peace in solidarity with refugees, boost UN conference

The moment religious leaders from around 40 faith-based organisations worldwide agreed to keep defending the individual right to seek asylum during a gathering in Geneva marked a high point on the eve of the Global Refugee Forum, the world's biggest such international gathering.They met at a one-day event on 12 December at the World Council of Churches (WCC), chaired by an Armenian archbishop and a UN diplomat who was once a Turkish legislator.

14 December 2023

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew addressed an assembly of religious leaders gathered at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Centre on 12 December—the day before the opening of the Global Refugee Forum.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew: climate change constitutes a spiritual and ethical issue

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew addressed an assembly of religious leaders gathered at the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Centre on 12 December—the day before the opening of the Global Refugee Forum.

14 December 2023

Oikoumene Pasifika, a group composed of young people from the Pacific, WCC 11th Assembly, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2022, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

World Council of Churches plans pilgrimage to Marshall Islands

With a focus on the legacy of nuclear testing and climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is planning a pilgrimage visit to the Marshall Islands on 16-24 November.

09 November 2023

Emerging Peacemakers Forum Group Phoo Planting Trees

Participants at the Emerging Peacemakers Forum send a message of hope to COP28

50 young people from 24 countries have sent a message of hope to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2023. The message was delivered during a special ceremony during the second edition of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum, held at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland.

09 July 2023

Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, WCC programme executive for Faith and Order.

WCC prayer commemorates Genocide Remembrance Day

A World Council of Churches (WCC) prayer held 24 April, known as Red Sunday, commemorated Genocide Remembrance Day.

24 April 2023

Join an Easter prayer for peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula

The National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) has published a “2023 Easter Prayer for Peace and Reunification on the Korean Peninsula”, an annual observance which carries special significance this year, 70 years after the Korean War ceasefire established by the 1953 Armistice Agreement.

05 April 2023

2 September 2022, Karlsruhe, Germany: A young woman holding up a sign that says "no faith in fossil fuels"

Interfaith voices want UN General Assembly to hear: “There is so much that needs to be done—and time is running out”

An interfaith panel discussion on climate, held 21 September, sent a clear message to the world’s governments: a social and spiritual transformation must underpin policies that care for the earth and the most vulnerable people living on it.

22 September 2022

Korea - Global Prayer

Global prayer for peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula will call for healing grace

The World Council of Churches invites the global fellowship and all people of good will to join, on 15 August, a prayer for peace and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula.

11 August 2022

Screen, Panel, Vienna meeting

"Ban plan” outlines what the world needs to do to eliminate nuclear weapons

A “ban plan” outlining what the world needs to do to eliminate nuclear weapons is the “strongest condemnation of nuclear threats by a multilateral UN conference,” said Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, programme executive for Human Rights and Disarmament for the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

30 June 2022

Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca

WCC acting general secretary: “humanitarian aid is at the very heart of our Christian identity”

Offering a churches’ perspective during a dialogue on humanitarian aid on 10 June, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca spoke on the faith and spiritual foundations for helping one another.

13 June 2022

PTV to Norway

Among Sami community in Norway, “Invisibility has been our survival strategy”

From 31 May to 3 June, representatives from the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group, Working Group on Climate Change, and the Young People in the Ecumenical Movement of the World Council of Churches formed a Pilgrim Team Visit to indigenous Sami communities in the south of Norway.

13 June 2022

Colombia tray lunch June 2022

Colombian delegation calls upon international community to revive “vital support”

As a group of three laureates of the “National Human Rights Award in Colombia” engaged in meetings with diplomats and United Nations representatives in Geneva, a tray lunch event was organized on 8 June at the Ecumenical Centre by the World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance to offer the delegation the opportunity to share about the deterioration of the peace process in the country and the importance of international solidarity.

09 June 2022

Candlelight vigil for peace in the Korean Peninsula, part of "A Light of Peace" campaign sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches of Korea December 2017, Photo: Paul Jeffrey/WCC

On Korean Peninsula, “the churches and the country need reconciliation and unity”

Rev. Dr Hyunju Bae represents the Presbyterian Church of Korea on the World Council of Churches central and executive committees and serves on the WCC Gender Advisory Group. She is a former professor of New Testament Studies at the Busan Presbyterian University, Republic of Korea, and now a co-president of the Korea Christian Environmental Movement Solidarity for Integrity of Creation. Below, she reflects on a recent prayer vigil for peace, as well as other ecumenical activities in South Korea.

30 May 2022

A group of Oromo IDPs walk on the dry riverbed near Burka Dare IDP site in Seweyna woreda (administrative unit), Bale Zone, Ethiopia, Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Pictures

WCC, Religions for Peace will release joint message on statelessness: “Belonging—Affirmations for Faith Leaders’

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and Religions for Peace will issue on 9 May a joint message on statelessness, “Belonging—Affirmations for Faith Leaders”.

The document is one of the most recent fruits of WCC work that has been ongoing for more than a decade around the issue of statelessness. It is currently available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

06 May 2022

A woman firefighter greets a young refugee child from Ukraine as he arrives at the Vama Siret border crossing, Romania. The Vama Siret border crossing connects northeast Romania with Ukraine. Located north of Siret and further in the south the city of Suceava, the crossing connects Romania with the Ukrainian village of Terebleche and further north the city of Chernivtsi. Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military starting on 24 February 2022, close to half a million refugees have fled across the

WCC encourages singing, praying for peace as creative ideas abound

A “human chain” singing for peace and a new hymn by Swedish composer and pastor Per Harling are just two of many creative ways people are expressing their yearning for peace.

30 March 2022

His Beatitude Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës and All Albania, Photo: Peter Williams/WCC

“Coexistence,” book by Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania brings a renowned voice to the human condition

A new publication from WCC, “Coexistence: Peace, Nature, Poverty, Terrorism, Values (Religious Perspectives)” by Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, is now available in hard copy and as an eBook.

24 March 2022

Prayer in the Chapel of the Ecumenical centre

WCC central committee lifts up resources for ecumenical diakonia and other programmes

Encouraging the WCC fellowship in its ongoing call to discipleship together, the WCC central committee commended to WCC member churches the document “Called to Transformation—Ecumenical Diakonia and Addendums.”

16 February 2022

Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca and Dr Agnes Abuom outside the Ecumenical centre in Geneva

WCC leaders recall life-changing experiences from early days

At the end of a 9 February press conference — which followed a long day of videoconference meetings — Dr Agnes Abuom and Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauce fielded a surprise question: what first got them involved in the ecumenical movement?

10 February 2022

"Vidas negras importam" (Black Lives Matter), read the sign of one of the protesters gathered in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Symposium on Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs will push to combat racism

The 8th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs, to be held 25 January, will focus on “Mobilizing Moral Influence and Governance to End the Systemic Injustices of Racism, the legacy of Colonialism and Slavery.”

19 January 2022

"Hands across a divided Derry", a monument in the center of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Photo: Peter Williams/WCC

Webinar will remember past massacres in Europe

A webinar on 6 December—fifth in an ongoing series—will remember past massacres in Europe.

02 December 2021