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A worship service at the Glasgow University Chapel on 25 November featured recorded contributions by World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri as well as two other women who have dedicated their lives to promoting gender justice.

On 19 November, the World Council of Churches (WCC) commemorated World Toilet Day with reflections about the human right to a dignified sanitation. In a morning prayer led by the WCC Ecumenical Water Network (EWN), those gathered drew attention to the global sanitation challenge.

As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Centro Pro Unione, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 15 November in Rome about “What Does Mutual Accountability Mean for Christians and the Christian Life?”

On 7 November, the WCC Executive Committee approved a Communication Strategy through 2021, the year of the next WCC Assembly.

Concrete action by churches everywhere is necessary to counter the persistent scourge of sexual and gender-based violence, urges the WCC in a plaintive call from Uppsala, Sweden.

Gender justice has been an important facet of the ACT Alliance Assembly being held Uppsala, Sweden this week.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed heartfelt sympathies to the Tree of Life synagogue and to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) after a gunman shot and killed 11 people and injured several others during a baby naming ceremony on 27 October.

Maryland-based, Ghanaian-born Rev. Dr Casely Essamuah was in February selected as secretary of the Global Christian Forum. Originally ordained in the Methodist Church in Ghana, he began his work officially in July. This week he made a study visit to the WCC and the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and the WCC was able to converse with him.

A warm welcome with cheers and high expectations awaited WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit when he touched down in Kingston earlier this week. The Jamaican capital was the first stop of a 10-day tour in the Caribbean.

During an open air common prayer event held in Nelson Mandela Park in Kingston, Jamaica on 4 October, women and men processed and sang, most of them dressed in black as they renewed and expanded their commitment to the Thursdays in Black campaign seeking a world free from rape and violence.

Linette Vassel has been associated with the struggle for women’s rights in the Caribbean since the 1970s. She was the first coordinator of the Committee of Women for Progress, an activist organisation formed in 1976 which was among the pioneering organisations for the struggle for maternity leave with pay for women.

Thirty years ago, the founders of the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women were searching for ways to not only help women across the globe seek justice but also highlight their contributions to churches and the world.

Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, the board of the Anders-Frostenson Foundation led a sing-along concert at the Ecumenical Centre Chapel on 28 September, offering participants a unique experience full of emotion.

What have we achieved in building a just community of women and men? What must we still do? How can we strengthen ecumenical collaboration in reading the signs of our times in order to map the future direction of our work?

As tens of thousands of people watched from offices, shops, and the sides of the road, the Thursdays in Black “street walk” made it way through Abuja, Nigeria, on the afternoon of 23 August.

Speaking in Lviv, Ukraine on 30 August, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri presented a paper on ”Women and Ecumenical Engagement for Peace in South Sudan,” reflecting on the experiences of a Pilgrim Team visit by the WCC in May 2018.

As the worst flooding in half a century struck the southern India state of Kerala, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called for prayers for those affected and for those responding, and expressed his sympathy for those who have lost loved ones in the disaster.

In the wake of a tragic collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa, Italy, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri offered condolences and prayers on behalf of the WCC global fellowship.

As the anniversary of Korea's liberation and division draws near, churches in Korea and around the world prepare for the Sunday of Prayer on 12 August.

Prayers and songs are available for use during the WCC anniversary, whether on 23 August – which marked the opening of the 1st Assembly in Amsterdam and the formal constitution of the WCC – or on another day during this anniversary year. Praying together is a powerful source of unity, says WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.