Search results

"Mental illnesses affect people of all ages, in all societies, from the boy soldier in Sierra Leone traumatized by years of bloody civil war, to the mother affected by HIV/AIDS. Therefore it is crucial for the churches to challenge the stigma attached to mental illness,"€ the Rev. Kjell Magne Bondevik reminds the churches.

The last time a significant empirical study on the role and challenges of theological education in so-called mission fields was presented was during the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh.

Thirteen West African countries. Thousands of youth and women. The numbers are daunting. But Ayoko Bahun-Wilson, West Africa regional coordinator of the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA), is determined to help West African youth become conscious, committed and prepared to fight to reduce the rate of HIV infections.

While 2.2 billion of the world's population is children, churches both in South and North have often ignored children amidst God's ministries. Children's issues, their place in churches and children's rights in the world, all need a strong united Christian voice.

“The Pacific is a region that displays many warm and strong expressions of peace,’’ World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a speech to the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) 50th anniversary celebration held in Samoa this past week.

For seven days last week the streets and squares of Madrid, Spain, were overrun by more than a million young people from all over the world. They gathered for the 26th World Youth Day (WYD), a youth-oriented event of the Roman Catholic Church.

Consistent with its commitment to strengthen long-standing relations with the Roman Catholic Church and to foster youth involvement in the one ecumenical movement, the World Council of Churches is to participate in the World Youth Day (WYD) in Madrid, Spain, 16-21 August, in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI. The theme of the 2011 WYD is “Rooted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith” (Col 2:7).

by Theodore Gill (*)

Young Christians aged 18-30 years are invited to apply for a programme addressing the links between environmental and socio-economic justice which is jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in the context of United Nations climate negotiations in the latter part of 2011.

"€œChristian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct"€, a five-page document on the conduct of mission "€œaccording to gospel principles", was released during a public presentation on Tuesday 28 June 2011 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Jorge Ramirez Reyna, president of Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Black Association for Human Rights Defense and Promotion, ASONEDH) in Peru, reflects on the issue of racism in his country and the role of the conference on the Violence of Racism in Latin America, which was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) 22-24 June in Managua, Nicaragua. He was interviewed by Sean Hawkey.

Church communication needs to be personal and authentic, and that is why it has traditionally been centred on face-to-face contacts.

The volatile and precarious situation of Christians in the Middle East was of deep concern to the members of the February 2011 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, and it will be highlighted in an upcoming conference on Christians in the Middle East to be held in Greece.

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they return to their homes and churches across the world.

Making peace, as an integral part of the life of church mission and witness, has not been as common as one might think.

Sofía Chipana Quispe is part of the first generation of her family born in the city. Her parents migrated to La Paz, Bolivia, from the Andean mountain rural areas before she was born in 1952.

In an energetic book launch featuring Jamaican drummers and an Indian “Bollywood” dance lesson, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) released a new publication seeking to break the silence on sexual abuse of women by clergy within the church.

Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, is home to more than 11,000 people, whose very existence, which at one time was tied to the ocean and its bounty, is now threatened by rising ocean water levels.

When 15-year-old Lydia* realized she was pregnant, she was forced by Jamaican law to leave her high school in Kingston. Left with no way to continue her education, she was struggling to find a way forward for herself and her baby.