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Mr. Khamphone Kounthapanya is president of the Lao Evangelical Church, one of two church bodies newly welcomed into full fellowship as members of the World Council of Churches at the 13-20 February Central Committee meeting. Kounthapanya shared some information about his church:

The church has an important role to play if Kenya is to achieve peace and stability for the future, several speakers said Friday. The African nation has seen significant violence over the past two months in the wake of presidential elections, killing nearly 1,000 people and forcing some 300,000 others to flee their homes. "We believe that for Kenya and Africa, church unity and ecumenical cooperation is not just an optional alternative", said Rev. Dr Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, which is based in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. "Sometimes the churches have to work hard if they are to be relevant". Eden Grace, a member of the Friends (Quakers) who was based in the city of Kisumu until the violence erupted and forced her to evacuate, said the church "has to have a role in restoring the ability of Kenyans to live side by side". The WCC Central Committee is expected to consider one or more public issues statements related to Kenya during their meetings in Geneva, which conclude 20 February. For more information on a recent WCC ecumenical solidarity visit to Kenya, go to http://overcomingviolence.org/index.php?id=5524 .

The convocation will meet under the theme "Glory to God and peace on earth". It will be the culmination of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), which has sought to network and bring attention to the peacemaking initiatives of its various member churches.

How elastic can a WCC Assembly be? Can it expand enough from its traditional form to draw others into its circle without breaking, or stretching out of shape? Central Committee member Ms. Christina Biere of Germany used a different metaphor, that of an "ecumenical river". A broader WCC Assembly, she said, will be envisioned by those who are "not going to hold the ecumenical river between walls, but let it expand and flow".

Rev. Dr Fernando Enns says the new English version of his book, The Peace Church and the Ecumenical Community , is a much easier read than the original German text. The English edition was officially launched during the WCC Central Committee meetings on Thursday. "This is a small church that has put ethics and theology very closely together... and the peace issue is at the very center," Enns, a Mennonite theologian from Germany, said of the Historic Peace Churches. "I feel this is a very rich tradition that should present (itself) in a clearer way." While Enns grew up in the peace church tradition, he also found valuable perspective as he became involved in the ecumenical movement. He feels the two spheres have much to share with each other, and he hopes his book contributes to that conversation. Enns, a member of Central Committee, also carefully grounded the principles of nonviolence in trinitarian theology. The church, he said, is the place where overcoming violence must start. The book, produced in conjunction with the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence , is co-published with Pandora Press. A limited number were available at the meetings and quickly sold out.

New expressions of Christianity. The growing prominence of the global South. The impact of globalization. Increasing religious diversity. These factors and others are contributing to a "rapidly changing ecclesial context," one that World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia addressed in his comprehensive report to the Central Committee on Thursday.

A group of young adults again has a significant role at these Central Committee meetings in Geneva, with two dozen young people from 22 countries on five continents serving as stewards. They can be easily spotted around the building, all wearing their royal blue WCC shirts. The stewards assist in a variety of ways during the meetings, often behind the scenes, while learning about the ecumenical movement and the work of the WCC. Their tasks include distributing documents and translation headsets, monitoring the doors of the main hall, setting up for morning prayers, assisting the press operation, running errands, and much more---including the job of ringing bells to summon Central Committee members back to their tables after breaks. Stewards, chosen through a competitive application process, serve during each Central Committee meeting and Assembly.

Central committee members are doing a lot of chatting around their tables at this meeting, and it is with the moderator's approval. Part of the WCC's new consensus method of doing business involves more small-group discussion before speakers come to the microphones. Rev. Gregor Henderson of the Uniting Church in Australia, who moderated the Wednesday morning session, also invited members to use this process to become better acquainted as the meetings began. "Part of being a Central Committee is building up our friendship," Henderson said, as well as increasing the knowledge of and trust in one another. The table groups were asked to discuss the experiences and hopes that they bring to this meeting, and one good thing currently happening in their respective churches. Later in the day, the same groups talked over issues and testimonies presented from the podium.

Speaking during the Lenten season that builds to the central Christian hope of the risen Christ, World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann addressed the Central Committee on Wednesday 13 February with a renewed call to "visible unity" in the church.

Among a series of recent ecumenical anniversaries--including the WCC's own 60th anniversary this year--is a significant milestone: 100 years of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, typically observed in mid-January. The Central Committee took some time to honor that centennial in Wednesday afternoon's session with a pair of testimonies. Rev. Canon Dr. John Saint Helier Gibaut, new director of the WCC's Commission on Faith and Order, noted that "peace and unity can never be separated from one another", while Ms. Hae-Sun Jung of the Korean Methodist Church shared plans for the Week's 2009 observance. Gibaut, a Canadian, said the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is the only contact many people in Canada have with the WCC. "It keeps the flame of the WCC alive in the hearts of people in my country", he said.

Two church communions from opposite sides of the globe were welcomed into full fellowship of the World Council of Churches Wednesday, increasing the membership of the WCC to 349.

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Joyful anticipation of a continued "close cooperation with the Church of Greece in serving the cause of Christian unity" under the leadership of Archbishop Hieronymos II was expressed in a congratulatory message to the newly elected head of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.

In Burundi, where democratic elections in 2005 fostered hopes for peace and democracy, recent crime and violence has caused the churches there to fear for the nation's stability. An ecumenical delegation led by former Mozambique president, Joaquim Chissano, visited the central African country at the invitation of the National Council of Churches in Burundi, 28-31 January. Chissano has gained international recognition for a successful disarmament programme in Mozambique.

As mediation to solve the disputed Kenyan presidential election enters a critical phase, top-level figures from the two parties met an international ecumenical delegation, which asked them to move on from the electoral dispute and seek a compromise solution.

By Fredrick Nzwili*

By Fredrick Nzwili (*)

As Kenyan churches are struggling to help prevent the country from descending into genocide, they envision a long term healing effort that will require the sustained engagement of international ecumenical partners.

Churches working for peace amidst a wave of post electoral violence in Kenya will receive a pastoral and solidarity visit of an international ecumenical delegation sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 30 January to 3 February.

The news of the death of His Beatitude Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, who died yesterday at his home in Psyhico (Athens) at the age of 69, was received with "deep sadness" by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. In a condolence letter to the Church of Greece, which the late archbishop had led since 1998, Kobia paid tribute to "a gifted head of church, an Orthodox primate looking at the modern world in an interesting and challenging way, a church leader committed to walk the path of Christian unity with courage and vision, perseverance and patience, care and humility."