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Participants in the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) 60th meeting in Athens, Greece had a unique opportunity of encounter at the Ecumenical Refugee Programme “Synyparxis,” operating shelters for unaccompanied minors across Greece.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) had input into the 49th Session of Universal Periodic Review, a process in which UN member states undergo a peer review of their human rights records. 

During a field visit to the south Lebanon, organized by youth groups and movements from the churches of Lebanon in cooperation with brothers from the Taize community, Maria Bzdigian, project manager at the Middle East Council of Churches, found the impact of the war heartbreaking—and impossible to ignore. 

Leaders of English-speaking churches in Geneva held a prayer vigil on 27 May at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, with money donated going towards supporting the work of Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

Nordic churches—including the those in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland—have released statements calling for restoring the ceasefire between Israel and Palestine, releasing hostages, delivering food and medicine to Gaza, and ending violence against the Palestinian population of the West Bank.

With an ancient history, deep ties to the ecumenical movement, and extensive social programmes, the Church of Greece is a stalwart institution—as well as this week’s host for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs meeting. 

As the “Life and Work” centenary conference continued on 20 May in Athens, participants took a deep dip into church history, emerging with challenging questions and topics that will inform their ongoing discussions. 

As a “Life and Work” centenary conference in Athens entered its second day, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs traveled back in time to consider the scene in Stockholm in 1925—then took a courageous look forward at the many serious global issues under consideration by churches today.