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At today's ecumenical Vespers service presided by Pope Benedict XVI, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia underlined the importance of "a church that is one and united in its witness" to a world marked by violence and disunity.  The service in Rome marked the conclusion of the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

A number of major international Christian youth movements and organizations called for stronger efforts towards unity in a joint statement issued on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Addressed to the heads of the Roman Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches, Christian World Communions and Regional Ecumenical Organizations, the statement asks them to "share ecumenical dialogue with young people" and expresses the commitment of the signatories to "raise awareness of the importance of Christian unity among young people".

Joint release with the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Council for World Mission

Societies must move away from "promoting endless growth and production of goods" as well as a "seemingly insatiable" consumption, says a statement presented today by the World Council of Churches to the plenary of high-level government representatives at the UN climate summit in Bali, Indonesia. While "the poorer carry the burden of the irresponsible waste of resources, energy and extreme consumerism of the richer," the statement affirms, actions should be focused on resolving "the problems of the great majority of today's world population."

While negotiations at a key UN climate summit in Bali, Indonesia, seem trapped in a "vicious circle", ecumenical representatives struggle alongside civil society organizations to bring about a paradigm change.

The legacies of the slave trade, and how churches can respond to past and present forms of slavery, are going to be discussed at an ecumenical conference to be held 10-14 December in Runaway Bay, Jamaica. About sixty theologians, church leaders, social scientists and activists, mainly from Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean will gather in the country where nearly one million Africans and later indentured servants from Asia were exploited as human commodities and many more transited on their often deadly passage into slavery.

Methodist archbishop Michael Kehinde Stephen of Nigeria has been chosen to moderate the Continuation Committee on Ecumenism in the 21st Century, a group assigned to monitor and encourage initiatives in the global quest for Christian unity. He was affirmed by consensus of the fourteen members attending the committee's first meeting during the week of 18-20 November in Bossey, Switzerland.

After four days of meetings, some 240 leaders of a broad range of churches, confessions and interchurch organizations from over 70 countries agreed to carry forward what they call "the Global Christian Forum process", an open platform for encounter and dialogue whose goal is to "foster mutual respect, explore and address common challenges".

Pentecostal theologian and scholar Cheryl Bridges-Johns proposed a radical reinvention of the ecumenical movement in a keynote address delivered on the third day of the Global Christian Forum which takes place 6-9 November in Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya.

By Juan Michel (*)

"Some would have said that this event was not possible, but here we are - and the world wonders what will come next," said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia at the opening of the Global Christian Forum taking place in Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya, from 6-9 November.

A unique gathering of high level church leaders to start Tuesday 6 November near Nairobi, Kenya, features the broadest range of Christian traditions ever represented at a global meeting, allowing for a discussion of unprecedented ecumenical breadth on what Christians are called to do - together if possible - in the world today.

"This letter is most welcome," said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, especially at a time when "all of humanity is looking to religious leaders for guidance as to how to respond to the situation of violence in the world". Kobia was commenting on the letter "A Common Word between Us and You," saying that it "gives a lot of hope".

Students of theology and young theologians are being invited by the World Council of Churches (WCC) to bring new perspectives and contributions to the debate about the future of the ecumenical movement by participating in an essay competition to mark the Council's 60th anniversary.

The Kyoto Protocol is "an important step forward towards a just and sustainable global climate policy regime" and as such needs to be fully implemented, however "much more radical reductions [of greenhouse gas emissions] are urgently needed," the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee stated at its 25-28 September meeting in Etchmiadzin, Armenia.

Churches throughout the world are preparing for next year's Week of prayer for Christian unity which will mark the 100th anniversary of the event. Worship resources in four languages have already been put at their disposal on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

War-torn Sri Lanka is to receive the first of a series of ecumenical "living letters" teams which will visit Christian communities facing situations of violence in different regions of the world in the run up to the 2011 International Ecumenical Peace Convocation being organized by the World Council of Churches.

Local churches in Palestine/Israel are looking to the whole fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to play a stronger role in supporting local churches' struggles for a just peace there. This is the main finding of a delegation led by the Council's general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia that visited Palestine/Israel from 21 to 26 June. A new advocacy forum launched prior to the visit, and ecumenical accompaniment are high on the churches' list of actions in pursuit of this goal.

By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

Focusing on how to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to real change in the lives of communities through new forms of development, a 12-15 April WCC/Christian Aid consultation in London worked to determine elements of a common platform for churches' involvement in the UNFCCC COP 13 climate change negotiations in Brazil next November-December.