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The WCC has joined over 30 leaders from major world religions and heads of global faith-based organizations today in launching a call to action to end extreme poverty by 2030, a goal shared with the World Bank Group.

The WCC has strongly condemned the terror attack yesterday on the campus of Garissa University in North East Kenya. A statement issued on 3 April from the WCC headquarters in Geneva has expressed grave concern over the recent reports from Kenya with nearly 150 people massacred – including the guards protecting the campus – and almost 80 others left wounded by al-Shabaab extremists, who reportedly explicitly targeted Christian students on the basis of their faith.

The WCC has reinstated the title of director for the WCC staff member Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum, who will continue to head the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

Should robots make life and death decisions? Religious leaders are asked to tell governments “Never”.

To address confusions about the respective roles of intra-church and inter-religious dialogue, or dialogue among Christians as contrasted to dialogue among world faiths, a group engaged with the WCC is to prepare a short guide that will offer definitions for sometimes confusing terminology used in such dialogues, setting out different goals of the two forms of dialogue and offering practical suggestions and examples about the methodologies and issues.

This Lenten season, the WCC invites its member churches to pray on Sunday 29 March for those affected by wars in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. The season of prayer is meant to revive hope from hopelessness, taking into account the vulnerability of minority communities and the threat of losing the diversity of the social fabric in this region.

Authentic discipleship in mission and evangelism, hospitality, justice and inclusiveness emerged as significant topics in a recent meeting of members of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. These topics will influence the theme of the World Mission Conference which is planned to be held in 2018.

A WCC delegation visited Ukraine from 17 to 20 March, reporting that they “heard a consistent call for the World Council of Churches and the ecumenical movement to inform the international community about the situation in Ukraine, to promote a more adequate humanitarian response to the human suffering resulting from the conflict, and to support and strengthen the efforts of the churches and faith communities of Ukraine for justice and peace.”

To express solidarity with churches and people in Israel and Palestine, the leadership of the WCC Central Committee has undertaken a visit to Israel and Palestine from 7 to 12 March.

The WCC is inviting young adults from Asian churches to participate in a two-week-long training programme called Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity. The deadline to submit applications is 31 March.

The life and works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer were revisited by three historians in a panel held by the WCC.

Dr Fulata Mbano-Moyo, the WCC programme executive for Women in Church and Society, called on the movement of Christian students to reclaim its radical transforming nature towards a “pilgrimage of gender justice”.

The WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rev. Gloria Ulloa, has participated at the 35th Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation. The event is currently underway in Bogotá, Colombia, until 5 March.

Christine Housel, general secretary of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), in an introductory speech, has expressed her hope that the 35th General Assembly of the WSCF may offer better understandings of justice and peace issues.

WCC has condemned recent attacks against a mosque in the West Bank and a Christian centre in Jerusalem that appear to be part of the series of so-called “price-tag” attacks by extremists.

In many countries, national elections can provoke tension and uncertainty. Nigeria is no exception. The elections, originally scheduled for the middle of February, have now been postponed to 28 March, partly as a result of the security situation.

The WCC has strongly condemned the latest attacks and atrocities reported to have been committed by the so-called “Islamic State” against Christians in Syria.

The idea that HIV is present in the life of every human being, regardless of their susceptibility to the disease, could be seen as shocking. It could even be offensive.

The Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan’s diocese of Wau has developed a course titled “Reconcile - Moving Forward in Peace”, inviting people to be peace-builders this Lenten season.