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Pilgrims coming from Germany, Italy and Norway ended their journeys for climate justice on 7 December upon arrival at the St Stephen’s Church in Katowice, Poland, where the United Nations (UN) climate conference is underway. They were warmly welcomed by the delegations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that are attending the 24th Conference of Parties of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has recently made available a discussion paper affirming the significance of Agenda 2030 and placing specific demands upon those in positions of responsibility within politics, civil society and churches.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), ACT Alliance and the German Protestant development service Bread for the World are appealing to world leaders to take swift and coordinated action to limit global warming to 1.5°C degrees as a humanitarian and ethical obligation.

"The Synod advocates a swift exit from coal-fired power generation (lignite and hard coal), which complies with the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and contributes to achieving the German climate targets as soon as possible”, reads a statement released by the 12th Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), on 14 November.

As an observance of the centenary of the end of World War I, the board of the European peace church network Church and Peace publicly called for active remembrance through nonviolence, pointing to the Gospel as a basis for this call.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent a greeting to the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) reflecting on the main theme of this year’s synod, “The Faith of Young People.”

It ended 100 years ago, and on 11 November, church leaders will remember World War One, praying and calling for reconciliation, despite a century passing since one of humanity’s most brutal conflicts.
From Flanders in Belgium to villages across France, the UK and Germany, bells will toll to remember.

A delegation from the Evangelical Church in Germany is visiting the WCC on 26-27 October for an ecumenical learning experience that includes prayers with students from the Bossey Ecumenical Institute, an introduction and overview of the work of the WCC, a meeting with the Lutheran World Federation, and a guided tour of the Ecumenical Centre.

The Bridge Group, a working group of the World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME), was established during the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha, Tanzania in March.

At a time of increased divisions within churches and within rapidly changing societies, Christians are called, more urgently than ever before, to model the values of reconciliation, justice and peace. That’s why a group of theologians and church leaders from different denominations have been meeting near the German city of Augsburg to work together on two documents calling for much closer collaboration in the tasks of peace-building and the care of migrants and refugees.

Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday, 13 September, for Loïs Meyhoffer, longtime staff member of the World Council of Churches, who died this week at nearly 100 years. A Geneva native, Meyhoffer joined the fledgling organization’s refugee assistance efforts in 1949 and moved to Germany to oversee its efforts there, returning to Geneva in 1955 and working on staff until her retirement.

A group of ecumenical pilgrims started a journey towards the 2018 World Climate Conference hosting city Katowice, in Poland, where high level talks about the preservation of creation will take place. "Go then!" is the motto of the Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice that took off in Bonn, Germany, on 9 September.

In the German city of Augsburg, which embodies memories of both division and reconciliation, WCC and Catholic leaders have been discussing increased practical cooperation in peace-building and the protection of migrants and refugees.

Ten weeks after Pope Francis visited the WCC in Geneva as “a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace,” church leaders of different churches representing the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church are meeting in Germany this week to continue their task of “walking, praying and working together.”

I have experienced many good stories with the WCC, but unfortunately disappointing ones as well, says Rev. Dr Margot Käßmann, Lutheran theologian and former chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. She was a member of the WCC Central and Executive Committees for many years, until her resignation in 2002. The story she contributed for the WCC 70th anniversary commemoration looks back to the 1998 WCC Assembly in Harare, which marked the end of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee has decided to pursue plans for the WCC 11th Assembly in 2021 in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Cardinal Karl Lehmann, the former head of Germany's Catholic Bishops Conference, died on 11 March. He was 81.

A group of German ecumenical activists including former WCC general secretary Konrad Raiser has criticised the German government for its failure to support the United Nations treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. “It has become clear to many people in recent months that nuclear weapons do not offer lasting security and protection, but remain a continuing threat to humanity and creation,” the ecumenical activists said in an appeal published in Berlin on 20 February, referring to the stand-off between the United States and North Korea.

The WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2016 has gone to the documentary film Cahier africain directed by Heidi Specogna, who was recognized at an awards ceremony on 19 February in Berlin.

The worldwide agenda for sustainable development is intended to resolve inequalities but fails to address the unjust distribution of power in the global system, former World Council of Churches general secretary Konrad Raiser told a panel in Berlin.