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Religious diversity is an unavoidable reality today – and an opportunity, according to the participants of an interfaith seminar held in July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey outside Geneva, Switzerland.

By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

In a speech in Kinshasa on 13 July, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), challenged churches to end their denial of violence against women. "The churches still seem to relegate violence to the private sphere, and still understand violence as only physical," he said.

An upcoming meeting of 120 theologians from nearly all Christian traditions will be looking at what churches consider to be their mission in the world and how they come to decisions on theological, ecumenical or moral questions.

By Sara Speicher (*)

The hope that all Christians will be able to celebrate Easter on the same day in the future was reaffirmed by an international ecumenical seminar organized by the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, 15 May.

Five young men and women from Australia, Kenya, Greece, India and Scotland, who are attending the German Kirchentag as part of their year-long internship with the WCC, will convey their impressions of this nationwide protestant convention on a new blog .

"Women and Men united to end violence against women and girls" was the vision discussed during a lunch-time lecture at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland on 12 March.

Roughly one in ten women attending the 53rd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women is part of Ecumenical Women, an international coalition of churches and ecumenical organizations.

Rediscovering the testimonies of Christian faith men and women of different Christian traditions gave over the centuries was the goal that brought some eighty participants from a variety of traditions and countries to the Italian monastery of Bose this autumn.

www.FaithConnectsUs.org is a new website launched during the "New Fire: Young Adult Ecumenical Days", a gathering of young adult ecumenists from the United States that took place in Denver, Colorado, 8 - 10 November 2008. The participants expressed a strong desire to deepen the relationship with one another, to work more effectively to be the body of Christ to the world and to add 'New Fire' to the ecumenical movement.

The Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) agreed to hold a mission event involving some 200 participants in mid-2012, in advance of the WCC 10th assembly to take place the following year.

Despite having a constitution which does not allow discrimination and a proactive government working for the integration of the marginalized parts of society, violence and discrimination persist in some parts of India.

Patriarchy has been the dominant influence in shaping men and oppressing women, a workshop sponsored by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) has concluded.

By Naveen Qayyum (*)

"I eagerly await an account of your visions predicting what tomorrow may bring", expressed the World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a message of support to the 34th General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). Taking place in Montreal, Canada from 1-9 August 2008, the gathering will bring together some 200 students and young leaders from all over the world with the theme "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy". In recalling his own involvement with the WSCF as a young Christian student, Kobia stated: "I am profoundly aware of the influence that the student Christian movement can have in shaping a person's life".

German churches' experience with the issue of "domestic violence" will play an important role in a Peace Declaration of the World Council of Churches planned for 2011. "The churches have denied the existence of this issue for a long time", said Georges Lemopoulos, deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), speaking on Saturday 28 June in Frankfurt.

Ideas for "bringing unity down to earth", "communicative action" and a "theology of the wilderness" were among the winning entries submitted for an essay contest on Prospects for Ecumenism in the 21st Century. The winners, two women and four men, come from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.

Over the last decade, Orthodox women reached significant milestones regarding their participation in church life, but many of their concerns have not yet been fully addressed, an international gathering of Orthodox women stated.

More than 50 young theologians from 36 churches in 24 countries have answered the WCC's invitation to submit essays addressing the theme: " Making a Difference Together - Prospects for Ecumenism in the 21st Century". The essay contest is part of the programme to commemorate the Council's 60th anniversary in 2008.