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The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee will convene from 17-20 May, and if needed on 25 May, with a focus on preparing for the upcoming WCC central committee meeting, planning for the WCC 11th Assembly in Germany in 2022, and issuing a public statement on overcoming global injustice and inequity to defeat COVID-19.

Originally planned to gather tens of thousands of participants in Frankfurt but reshaped as a “digital and decentralized” event because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany’s third Ecumenical Kirchentag (church convention) has opened with a call for a Christians to overcome their divisions.

A one-of-a-kind international symposium—“Communication for Social Justice in the Digital Age”—will offer a chance to explore new visions for digital justice, public space, and actions that will make a difference. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) was honoured as a top non-governmental organization for its work during 2020, receiving a second-place Geneva Engage Award on 18 February for effective and inspiring social media outreach and engagement.

Rev. Dr Benjamin Simon became the World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for Church Relations in March 2020—just when the COVID-19 pandemic began to underscore the importance of bringing the WCC global fellowship together in new and creative ways.  

In the midst of the nationwide lockdown, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North Germany finds new ways to connect people in its congregations. It encourages all people to step out on balconies or come together by open windows, at 8 pm on Christmas Eve, and let their voices ring out loud in the Christmas carol "Silent Night.”

World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent best wishes to pastor Rita Famos, who was newly elected as president of the Protestant Church in Switzerland. She is the first woman to hold the post.

The organizers of Germany’s biggest ecumenical gathering planned for 2021 have announced they intend the event to go ahead but on a reduced scale due to the COVID-19 pandemic and with strict hygiene measures.

In the field of multilateral relations, the major partner of the Catholic Church is the World Council of Churches (WCC). Founded in 1948, it is the broadest and most inclusive ecumenical organization, bringing together 350 Christian denominations including Orthodox, Lutherans, Reformed, Anglicans, Methodists, Baptists as well as United and Independent churches. Altogether they represent over 500 million Christians worldwide.

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt around the globe, a WCC website Q&A now provides guidance and highlights good practices on key concerns from member churches and partners all over the world.

The WCC has welcomed four new programme executives.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) was nominated as a top non-governmental organization and received a 4th place in the Geneva Engage Award on 29 January. The honor recognises the actors in International Geneva for their social media outreach and online engagement.

At an ecumenical conference on 10 December in Stuttgart, Germany, commemorating 50 years of combatting racism, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered reflections on mission and on combatting racism. He also met with Bishop Frank Otfried July from the Evangelische Landeskirche in Wuerttemberg.

Conversations at the World Council of Churches (WCC) exhibition booth at the Kirchentag showed there is a growing interest in ecumenical movement among German churches. The topics of a particularly high interest were the Thursdays in Black campaign and studies at the Ecumenical institute in Bossey.

Hundreds of worshippers gathered 16th of June in the historic cathedral of the Protestant Church of Geneva to commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Joint Declaration of the Doctrine of Justification.

They came from governments, the United Nations, civil society, churches and other faith-based organizations to discuss the impact of Cyclone Idai that has wreaked death, havoc and destruction on Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe in recent weeks.

A conference in Berlin has recalled how in 1989 an ecumenical assembly mobilised dissent in the former East Germany in the run-up to a peaceful revolution that led to the collapse of communism and the end of the Berlin Wall.

A special locomotive bearing the motto of the 2019 Kirchentag, Germany’s biggest regular Protestant festival, will travel the length and breadth of the country as a “rolling ambassador” for the event that takes place this year in June in the western German city of Dortmund.