The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, in a public statement, urged a permanent cessation of hostilities in Sudan, where people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe following weeks of intense fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
World Council of Churches central committee moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm delivered a lecture at the Kitzingen deanery, a regional church district near Würzburg, for the parishes of the deanery as well as for the public. The lecture, entitled “Just Peace through Military Force? Peace Ethical Considerations in Light of the War of Aggression against Ukraine,” was offered on 29 April
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay is visiting Moscow this week, meeting with H.H. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, and representatives from the largest WCC member church.
The World Council of Churches joined other global and regional groups in delivering to the UN an interfaith statement in support of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
Marking 75 years since Al-Nakba—the Arabic term for the events of 1948, when many Palestinians were displaced from their homeland by the creation of the new state of Israel—religious leaders reflected on what Al-Nakba means today.
During the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe”—when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948—World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with member churches in the Holy Land.
During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.
Against the background of the Russian invasion and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, a high-level WCC leadership delegation visiting Ukraine undertook an intensive series of consultations in Kyiv on 11 May 2023, with church leaders, Ukrainian government officials, and others.
A delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is visiting Ukraine on 10-12 May to renew relations with churches and religious organizations and to explore possibilities of joint efforts to achieve just peace in Ukraine.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed deep concern about the ongoing ethnic and communal violence which flared up last week in India’s north-eastern State of Manipur, involving the Hindu majority Meitei community and the mostly Christian Naga and Kuki tribal communities.
In a pastoral letter to the churches of South Sudan and to Norwegian Church Aid, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock and sadness about the news of an attack on Norwegian Church Aid vehicles in Imehejek, Lopa Lafon, in the Eastern Equatoria region of South Sudan.
A World Council of Churches webinar on 25 April explored obstacles, opportunities, and strategies to combat racism, xenophobia, and racial discrimination in the church and in the world. Speakers led an exploration of overcoming obstacles in order to continue the quest for racial justice.
Church leaders in Papua, in a position statement directed toward government officials, said “the current situation is a human tragedy,” expressed grave concern about extrajudicial killings and other violence, and called for immediate measures for a sustainable peace.
“They came to our house. We refused to open the door so they broke in though the window.”
That’s how Damaris Blessing Tiswan, a finance student at Kaduna Polytechnic, began describing her ordeal of being kidnapped with her four siblings at midnight.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, and urged an end to hostilities.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) will host a hybrid event on 2 May in conjunction with the 32nd session of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.
Amidst amplified calls for peace in Sudan, a glimmer of hope has spread in the northeastern African country, after fighting forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire.