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More than 40 church leaders and diakonia specialists from 15 Asian countries participated in training in ecumenical diakonia and development organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 4-7 December.

The Ecumenical Women's Assembly recently ended a weeklong meeting in Taiwan with calls to repent from greed and for Asian women to become advocates and catalysts of reconciliation, renewal, and restoration in the world, communities, and in churches.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) global fellowship expressed its sadness upon the passing of Rev. Dr Augustine G. Jeyakumar, on 31 October in Chennai, India. Jeyakumar was the executive secretary of the United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India, director of Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, and the treasurer of the National Council of Churches of India.

His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, visited Geneva on 12-13 October. Karekin II, a World Council of Churches (WCC) president, was attending the 2019 Swiss Red Cross Ball with the theme of “Brighten the Lives of our Elders.” The main purpose of the event was to support people with disabilities in Armenia.

Rev. Dr P.C. Singh met with World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on 10 October to discuss the ecumenical movement - today and tomorrow.

The National Council of Churches USA (NCCUSA) will confer its President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership to Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) central committee.

Ethiopians have celebrated the annual festival of the Meskel (which means “cross” in Amharic), marking the finding of the “true cross” on which Jesus Christ was supposedly crucified. The festival is one of the major religious celebrations of the Orthodox Church in the Horn of Africa country. The main national feast - which occurs on 27 or 28 September - is held at Meskel Square in the capital Addis Abba.

Dr Alexander M. Schweitzer is executive director of Bible Ministry and director of Global Bible Translation for the Global Mission Team of United Bible Societies. On International Translation Day, Schweitzer shared his thoughts about the challenges related to translations, as well as how deeply they enrich our world.

A century after the landmark Paris Peace Conference that followed the First World War, representatives of churches from throughout Europe gathered in the French capital to seek ways of strengthening peace in the 21st century.

The Council of Churches in Zambia released a press statement on 3 September indicating its refusal to submit thoughts on a controversial bill that would change the nation’s constitution.

Erhard Hermansen is general secretary of the Christian Council of Norway, which has been collaborating closely with churches in Sudan and South Sudan for nearly 30 years. Hermansen attended the South Sudan Council of Churches 2019 Assembly in late August, and shares his reflections and hopes below.

On 26-29 August, the South Sudan Council of Churches held its 2019 Assembly, and delegates issued resolutions related to the governance of the organization, and to the path forward for peace and justice.

The South Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical body of seven members and associate members, held its first General Assembly since the independence of the largely Christian and animist country in 2011.

Archbishop Job of Telmessos, who serves as permanent representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the World Council of Churches (WCC), met with the WCC News and describes receiving an extraordinary gift from Pope Francis on 29 June.

South Sudanese church leaders continued to amplify hope for their country, as the people quietly marked the 8th Independence Day, without an official government celebration.
The world’s newest nation which became an independent state on 9 July 2011, is facing enormous challenges including insecurity, economic stagnation and famine due to a new conflict.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the loss of Bishop Barnabas D. Mondal, know for his support of theological education in South Asia, and for being the first national bishop and the former moderator of the Church of Bangladesh. He passed away on 29 June in Dhaka.

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.

The last of three capacity-building seminars on Human Resources and Church Leadership for Diakonia and Development took place in Maputo, Mozambique, 18-20 June. This most recent seminar was for Portuguese speakers in Africa, with participants coming mainly from Angola and Mozambique. The first two seminars - for French and English speakers respectively - were held in May in Cotonou, Bénin, and Nairobi, Kenya.

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.

Among the many international guests at the Heavenly Days on the Heath, which unfolded during the Ascension holidays in Herning in Denmark, was Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.