Search results

On 22 October at 15.00 CET, persons with disabilities across the globe will share their experiences related to COVID-19 and the transformation that has come out of it during a public webinar entitled “From Lamentation to Transformation: Persons with disabilities in the context of the COVID-19.”  

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will join many in honoring indigenous communities across the world on 9 August. Designated by the United Nations as “International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples,” this year the day is particularly honoring indigenous people for seeking unique solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for leading the way in sustainable living in a post-COVID-19 era.

Thursdays in Black grew out of women’s movements of resilience and resistance to injustice, abuse and violence. In the Pacific region, which has some of the highest recorded rates of violence against women, churches are leading conversations to change attitudes and actions. Domestic violence is prevalent throughout Fiji. According to UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women, almost 2 out of 3 women aged 18-64 in Fiji have experienced physical or sexual violence from their intimate partner – almost twice the global average.

Voices from the World Council of Churches (WCC) global fellowship are speaking out strongly against racism and for justice in an ongoing show of solidarity and action. These voices are amplifying the idea of a “conversion that will end all forms of racism and racial discrimination” set forth in a 3 June World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee Statement on Racial Justice in the USA.

The new issue of International Review of Mission includes a variety of articles, ranging from post-colonialism to public theology, and from mission models to Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation. Two of the articles are specifically concerned with healing, which is a pertinent theme at this current period of the coronavirus. These two articles clearly indicate that the biblical concept of health consists as it does of the welfare, health, and prosperity of the individual person as well as of communities as a whole. Individuals are always part of the communities they belong to.

The Migrant Network of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark has started a series of webinars about church, migration and integration. The perspective is how to grow an international church in Denmark, and the discussion also centers on the global Christian fellowship.

Persons with disabilities may be even more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have also shown resiliency and wisdom that can be shared across the world.

“The church has lots of roles in removing barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from living a fulfilled life. All are created in the image of God and have equal rights. Sexual and reproductive health is one such right that should not be denied to any woman,” said Rev. Evans Onyemara, general secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria during a training on empowering women with disabilities on sexual and reproductive health care held at Umuahia, Nigeria from 9-11 March.

Ecumenical partners in Africa convened by All Africa Conference of Churches, World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative and Advocacy, Christian Aid, and Side by Side gathered in Nairobi on World Prayer day 2020 to celebrate the achievements of women in Africa as well as to recognise men as allies. The gathering also observed the International Women’s Day under the theme #EachforEqual.

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.

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.”

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?

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) 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.

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.

The movie Eldorado, in which filmmaker Markus Imhoof examines the European migrant crisis and contrasts it against his boyhood experience with a post-World War II Italian refugee, has received recognition from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and SIGNIS, a Roman Catholic lay ecclesial movement for professionals in the communication.

The film was awarded because it highlights universal values.

Promoting justice, peace and racial awareness, indigenous youth will gather in Osaka, Japan from 8-12 September. Collaborating with the World Council of Churches, the youth from around the world will continue to build on indigenous youth leadership initiatives begun in the past few years, affirming the growing visibility and presence of indigenous youth leadership in the ecumenical movement.