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Politicians need to focus on the human face of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not discard it in favour of their own political agendas, the head of the World Council of Churches has said in the Middle East.

In a message honouring the Day for Creation, 1 September, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has expressed his hope that the financial and economic crisis experienced by many societies would bring about "a powerful change in direction, to a path of viable and sustainable environmental development."

By Mark Beach (*)

At a time when there are signs of hope emerging from the churches in the Middle East around the conflict in Palestine and Israel, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will be travelling to the region to emphasize the need for a “just peace”.

“Among the many challenges that we face in the search for Christian unity is the need to overcome divisions and prejudices that exclude one another,” Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC said to the 22nd Pentecostal World Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

Churches' attitudes and responses to racism today will come under scrutiny at a conference, organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the United Church of Christ (UCC) and Dutch missionary and diaconal agency Kerk in Actie , in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 26-29 August.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is sending an international ecumenical Living Letters delegation to visit the Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Territory of Australia from 12 -17 September 2010.

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the World Council of Churches (WCC) stewards programme for one of two hands-on learning experiences at major ecumenical meetings in 2011, the WCC Central Committee meeting, 8-24 February, and the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 12-26 May. Applicants must be between the age of 18-30 years.

By Jane Stranz (*)

The wholeness of creation and the commitment for justice are two biblical insights that have guided ecumenical concern on climate change, say the editors of the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, published under the title, "Churches Caring for Creation and Climate Justice".

The theme of the 30th International Congress of Old Catholics, "You shall go out in joy", is a call to prepare for a "new beginning, filled with God’s purpose and renewed by grace" WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit wrote in his greetings to the event.

Grief over the many deaths and the devastation caused by recent floods in Pakistan, as well as appreciation for the relief work provided by the Diocese of Peshawar of the Church of Pakistan, was expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in letters to the government and the church.

Government and society must find “new resolve to protect the sanctity of life,” Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), said in a statement recognizing the 65 th anniversary of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

by Juan Michel (*)

While peace is a commonly held value within Judaism, Islam and Christianity, other religious values can often become sources of conflict. In order to build community beyond faith boundaries a group of young adults from each of the three faith groups spent a week focusing on the common value of peace recently.

In a letter to Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit conveyed congratulations on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for his recent election as president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF).

By Stephen Brown (*)

"Great dismay" at the shooting and killing of two young Christians in Faisalabad on 19 July was expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in letters to Pakistan's president and its prime minister.

The Lutheran insistence on the fact "that we are one because we are sharing the one and same Christ, because we receive the same gift" is something the ecumenical movement needs now "more than ever", said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit speaking in Stuttgart on 21 July.