Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests —at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications —welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
To the sound of drums, the movement, and a candlelit sunset, the Indigenous Peoples Pre-Assembly celebrated together on 28 August, as people from across the globe gathered to unify their vision of renewing creation.
Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men.
Young songwriters will take center inspirational stage at the upcoming World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly as the WCC announced the winners of its Worship Songwriting Competition on 22 August. The contest aimed to engage and support young people in the assembly's planning and delivery.
A special song and video—“Christ’s Love Moves the World”—has been released for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, set to inspire the voices and ears of many who are ready to participate onsite in Karlsruhe, Germany, or online.
For World Council of Churches 11th Assembly delegates and for other people around the world who want to get to the heart of the assembly, the WCC is offering a Resource Book full of both information and inspiration.
The Joint Report of the Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group and the Working Group on Climate Change of the World Council of Churches (WCC) affirmed the integral and pivotal role Indigenous Peoples have in shaping an alternative path of being in the right relationship with the whole of Creation.
During a blessing of a peace quilt received as a gift from the women of the Mennonite World Conference, the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee affirmed its commitment to pray for and advocate for an end to gender-based violence.
The opening prayer of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, held 15 June, offered tributes to colleagues who have passed away, including special tributes to the late Metropolitan Gennadios.
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.
Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary, was featured in an episode of African Catholic Voices podcast, a service of the Pan-African Theology and Pastoral Network. The episode, which aired 3 May, focuses on Phiri’s call on the churches in Africa to embrace life-affirming practices and reject all life-denying cultural, institutional, and denominational practices that harm God's people.
As the series of Bible studies leading up to the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly continues, the focus moves to Holy Week and Easter. Below, Dr Ani Ghazaryan Drissi, WCC programme executive for the Faith and Order Commission, reflects on how churches, together, can focus on Holy Week in the context of of preparing for the assembly.
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.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) will share regional daily prayers on antiracism in the week leading up to the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March.
Indigenous people shared their personal experiences of pain — and a corresponding wisdom for the future — during a recent panel discussion focused on sharing visions of living in harmony with nature.
Students from the Bossey Ecumenical Institute deepened their understanding of the ecumenical movement as they helped lead prayers during the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting, held via videoconference 9-15 February.
In a gathering that opened the final day of a week-long meeting, the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee prayed that they would “allow Christ to enlighten our hearts, souls, minds with divine strength.”
As preparations continue for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2022, pre-assemblies are taking shape as well. Planners are working to create an experience in which people can work together in transformational ways.