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Gender justice is “not a static moment,” WCC plenary finds

A gender justice plenary during the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee meeting on 23 June featured “living legacies”—women who led during remarkable times in history and who are still calling for churches and societies to keep moving together.

23 June 2025

Publication

WCC Financial Report 2024 Cover with pilgrim routes in bright colours

WCC Financial Report 2024 and Appendix

This is the detailed financial report and appendix of the World Council of Churches for 2023.
The report contains the following

Report to the Member Churches on the 2024 Financial Report
Report of the Statutory Auditor to the Executive Committee and to the Member Churches
Schedule I: Consolidated Balance Sheet
Schedule II: Consolidated Income & Expenditure Account
Schedule III: Consolidated Statement of Movements in Funds & Reserves
Schedule IV: Consolidated Cash Flow Statement Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Schedule V: Restricted Funds
Schedule VI (a) and (b): Restricted Funds Programmes
Schedule VII: Unrestricted and Designated Funds Schedule VIII: Unrestricted Operating Funds
Schedule IX: Unrestricted Operating Funds: Infrastructure Annual Summary of Contributions Non-financial Contributions

13 June 2025

Adele Halliday, the Anti-Racism and Equity lead at The United Church of Canada, delivered a keynote speech entitled “The State of Racism and Anti-Black Racism in the World Today”, 19 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

“Friends in church, let’s talk…” about anti-Black racism

Adele Halliday, the Anti-Racism and Equity lead at The United Church of Canada, raised questions that served as touchstones for further conversation during an ongoing international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision.”

06 June 2025

Dr. Joerg Rieger of Vanderbilt University delivered a keynote titled "Unite and Conquer in Order to Divide and Conquer: Religion, Race, and Class, and the Possibility of Solidarity in the US Then and Now", 19 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

Unite and Conquer in Order to Divide and Conquer: Rethinking Solidarity Across Race, Religion, and Class in the U.S. and beyond

At the World Council of Churches (WCC) conference in Berlin, where theologians, scholars, and faith leaders gather to reflect on religion’s role in a fragmented world, in May 2025, one of the main keynotes focused on the reframing of the perennial struggles over race, class, and power.

06 June 2025

Speaker of the Webinar on Menstrual Hygiene

Religious communities confront menstrual stigma in international webinar

Religious institutions worldwide are confronting their role in perpetuating menstrual stigma while simultaneously emerging as powerful advocates for women's dignity and health equity. The World Council of Churches (WCC) fourth annual Menstrual Hygiene Day webinar on 4 June brought together speakers from multiple continents and faith traditions to examine how patriarchal structures within religious communities have weaponised menstruation for control and marginalisation, whilst demonstrating how scripture, theology, and faith-based action can become tools for justice and liberation.

05 June 2025

To achieve racial justice, church must acknowledge past failures, keynote speaker urges

Yvonne Apiyo Brändle-Amolo, in a keynote speech titled “The Global Persistence of Anti-Black Racism and Role of the Church,” on 19 May, analyzed the enduring issue of anti-Black racism rooted in historical legacies of slavery and colonialism.

03 June 2025

Prof. Hulisani Ramantswana explores decolonizing the biblical narrative

Prof. Hulisani Ramantswana, a scholar from the University of South Africa, offered a keynote address, “Colonial Dynamics and the Impoverishment of Africa 140 Years after the Berlin Conference,” during an ecumenical gathering, “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision.”

02 June 2025

the international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision”, 18 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

Shared anti-racist vision emerges from Berlin Conference

An international conference, “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision,” acknowledged that the deep wounds of colonialism carved 140 years ago are by no means healed—but that churches can reframe relationships in a radical, de-colonial manner.

02 June 2025

Upcoming global webinar tackles period stigma in faith communities

As the international community works toward achieving gender equality by 2030, faith leaders are stepping forward to address one of the most overlooked barriers to women's empowerment: menstrual stigma. A joint webinar on 4 June from 15:00-16:30 CEST will explore how religious communities can lead transformative change in making menstruation a normal fact of life globally.

28 May 2025

Former World Council of Churches general secretary Konrad Raiser delivering opening remarks at the international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision”, 18 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

Reclaiming the anti-racist vision: Konrad Raiser opens WCC conference in Berlin

On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the 1884–85 Berlin Conference that institutionalized the colonial partitioning of Africa, former World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Konrad Raiser delivered opening remarks at a landmark ecumenical gathering in Berlin.

19 May 2025

The international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision” opened on 18 May, Berlin, Germany, Photo: Anna Rozkosny/Bread for the World

Berlin conference opens with pledges to take responsibility for colonialism—a crime with deep wounds

As the international conference “Berlin 1884–1885 and Anti-Black Racism: In Search of a Shared Anti-Racist Ecumenical Vision” opened on 18 May, those gathered in-person and online acknowledged that the deep wounds of colonialism carved 140 years ago are by no means healed.

18 May 2025

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier walks with the late Dr. Agnes Abuom, former moderator of the WCC Central Committee, as the president arrives at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Karlsruhe, under the theme "Christ's Love Moves the World to Reconciliation and Unity", Germany, 31 August 2022, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Final call to join: A transformative WCC ecumenical conference on racism, colonialism, and faith in Berlin

There’s still time to join a landmark moment in global ecumenical reflection and justice advocacy.

15 May 2025

Media advisory

WCC Press Centres ready to serve two upcoming events

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will provide both onsite and online services to accredited media in connection with two upcoming and simultaneously held ecumenical conferences in Berlin, Germany and Athens, Greece.

14 May 2025

Media advisory

The Französischer Dom in Berlin, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Berlin Conference to Address Racism, Xenophobia and the Legacy of Colonialism, 17–20 May 2025

Commemorating the 140th anniversary of the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference that legitimized the colonial partitioning of Africa, this global event will confront the ongoing legacies of colonialism and systemic racism. At a time of growing polarization, the conference aims to offer an ecumenical and ethical framework of justice and solidarity.

09 May 2025

Registrations Now Open: Join the WCC Ecumenical Conference in Berlin – 140 Years After the Conference That Changed Africa and the World

140 years after the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, one of the most consequential geopolitical gatherings in modern history, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ecumenical partners

08 May 2025

A chance to promote communication rights: vote in World Summit on the Information Society contest

Two projects from the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) have been nominated for a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) prize. The finalists now go to public vote, with the opportunity to have them highlighted during a high-level WSIS summit in July.

24 April 2025

Ayoung female participant, The World Council of Churches Conference on World Mission themed "Moving in the Spirit: Called to Transforming Discipleship", Arusha, Tanzania, March 2018, Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

International Review of Mission engages with mission in the contexts of empire

Under the theme, “Mission in the Contexts of Empire,” the World Council of Churches journal International Review of Mission examines issues of Christian mission and empire in the history of key events being marked in 2025 and the mission systems, assumptions, mindsets, and practices they created.

24 April 2025

Publication

Towards a Common Date for Easter

Faith and Order Paper No. 241

The feast of the resurrection lies at the heart of the Christian faith. But finding a common date for that celebration has always been complex. Eastern and Western churches have used different calendars to calculate the date of Easter since the 16th century, and only rarely do they coincide. Fresh impetus to explore the hope of a common date for Easter comes in 2025, when all Christians will celebrate Easter on a common day. 2025 also marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which addressed the need for a common celebration of the resurrection.

This publication contains four contributions from different church traditions on the search for a way to celebrate Easter on a common date every year that were presented at a webinar organized by the Commission on Faith and Order om “Easter 2025: Celebrating Together to Strengthen Unity.”

The organizers hope that these contributions may help animate the churches of the world and Christians in their contexts to work with one another towards a common celebration of Easter.

Aleppo Statement
It also contains the document “Towards a Common Date for Easter” produced at a consultation jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches and the Middle East Council of Churches in Aleppo, Syria, in 1997, offering observations and specific recommendations for the churches.

03 April 2025