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The Greek island of Lesbos is one of the first landing points in Europe for refugees and migrants fleeing conflicts. Many of them rely on smugglers to brave the treacherous Mediterranean in search of a better life.

A new generation of ecumenical Christians has engaged preeminent issues of contemporary global Christianity in a new publication from Globethics.

A World Mission Conference, hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, is being planned for 2018, reported the executive group of the World Council of Church’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

When Fernando Enns thinks of water in a German context, he is reminded of thousands and thousands of refugees who have come to the country fleeing the conflict in Syria.

A German alliance of diverse faith-based and civil-society groups has encouraged humanitarian response to refugees in Europe.

“We should be learning from our mistakes, and exposing the systems that are not performing well,” says Pauliina Parhiala, director and chief operating officer of the ACT Alliance, a coalition of 137 churches and faith-based organizations serving internationally in humanitarian, advocacy and development work.

Representatives of different Christian traditions will analyze the challenges to mission in secularized contexts during a seminar 22-26 February in Hungary.

Participants in a recent conference on the refugee crisis in Europe, hosted by the WCC, said they felt energized by the reports from a multitude of activities undertaken by churches from Lebanon to Finland through Serbia, Greece and Germany.

“Today, thankfully, religion is no longer a ‘taboo’ in political science and development literature,” said Rev. Dr Olav FykseTveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at an international conference on religion and sustainable development.

In an age of religious pluralism and of religious justification of all manner of atrocities, how do religious communities contribute authentically to the public good?

Two major crises have marked the months since the WCC called Katalina Tahaafe-Williams to work in Geneva on its migration, indigenous, and multicultural ministry programmes. When she took up the job in October, the European refugee crisis was in full flow. Then in November, terrorists attacked Paris.

On 8 February, the WCC convened a strategy meeting between principals and senior staff of the ACT Alliance, Anglican Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, Globethics, Lutheran World Federation and WCC, to discuss communication and collaboration in policy engagement, advocacy and action.

“The way we handle the refugee crisis, not least the settling in and integration process, will be of utmost significance, both for the attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in the future, and for the long-term stability and sustainability of our own societies”, said Knut Vollebaek, ambassador and former Norwegian foreign minister, in his speech at the recent WCC/UN conference on Europe’s refugee crisis.

Members of a small congregation in Toronto, Canada are celebrating. On Sunday the member of parliament for their riding came to the church to announce that the federal government has granted residency status to a Roma family that had lived under “sanctuary” protection in the church for 18 months.

Attending the World Council of Churches/United Nations high-level conference on the refugee crisis in Europe on 18-19 January, executive secretary for theology of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) Dr Douwe Visser was interviewed by the WCC to share his views on the refugee situation from the perspective of the WCRC.

The first of what will be 1,000 refugees from camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia are arriving this month in Italy through a “Humanitarian Corridors” project organized by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy, the Sant’ Egidio religious community and the Italian government.

The recent and ongoing flood of migrants and refugees in transit to Europe is testing not only Europe’s physical borders but its legal, security and diplomatic boundaries as well.

Anglican parishes in the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Republic of Ireland are seeking new paths and projects for 2016 after considering the results of a survey that identified successes and concerns among laity.

A delegation from the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, led by general secretary Rev. Lyim Hong-Tiong, was welcomed in Geneva by the WCC general secretary. Discussions focused on the situation of Christians and especially the situation for indigenous people in Taiwan.

A WCC member church in Kenya has consecrated its second woman bishop, Rev. Alice Muthoni Mutuma, on 31 January in Meru. Rev. Pauline Wanjiru Njiru, East Africa regional coordinator for the WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy, attended the service and brought greetings from WCC.