On 17 May 2023 in Moscow, a WCC delegation consisting of general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, director for International Affairs Mr Peter Prove, and programme executive for Ecumenical Relations and Faith and Order Dr Vasile-Octavian Mihoc met with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The upcoming Barbados Gospelfest, set for 21-28 May, will express churches’ affirmation and celebration of persons with disabilities in musical and other creative ways.
Prof. Dr Michel E. Abs, secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), reflects on how challenging daily lives can be in the Middle East, response to the earthquake in Syria and Türkiye, and plans to commemorate 50 years of the MECC.
A panel session on “Integrity Leadership: Towards Mutual Accountability and Transparency” was held 2 May as part of the Christian Conference of Asia’s Asian Church and Ecumenical Leaders’ Conference.
Pastor Joachim Leberecht, from Herzogenrath/Germany, has won the international Menno Simons Sermon Award from the Center for Peace Church Theology (University of Hamburg) together with the Mennonite congregation Hamburg-Altona.
There is an old Lutheran adage that to be Lutheran is to be ecumenical, so the theme of the upcoming Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) taking place in Poland, "One Body, One Spirit, One Hope,” is seen as totally appropriate for the times.
Dr Jørgen Skov Sørensen, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, reflects on hopes for the upcoming assembly Tallinn in June, as well as on the role churches play amid the conflict in Ukraine.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, and urged an end to hostilities.
Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, reflects below on the biggest challenges facing churches in Africa, and hopes for the future.
Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.
TheMiddle East Council of Churchesannounced that the 22 April each year—the day of the kidnapping of the two Archbishops of Aleppo, Metropolitan Boulos Yaziji and Metropolitan Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim— will be named “The Ecumenical Day for the Abducted and the Forcibly Absented.”
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay visits Sri Lanka on 24-25 April, meeting with the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, heads of churches, theologians, and government officials to discuss their deep contribution to the ecumenical movement.
Participating in a Ökumenetag (ecumenical day) in Karlsruhe, Germany, on 22 April, former World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Fr Ioan Sauca reflected back on the WCC 11th Assembly, and expressed deep gratitude to the host churches.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay is attending the 29th General Assembly of the National Council of Churches in India from 21-24 April at the Henry Martyn Institute, in Hyderabad, India.
The leaders of regional ecumenical organizations met on 19-20 April at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey to consult and collaborate with each other and with the World Council of Churches (WCC).
“It was with sadness that we received the news of the passing of Prof. Dr Julio Hector de Santa Ana, a reference of ecumenical theology in a liberating perspective,” said Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). De Santa Ana passed away in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17 April.
In his first address after his election on 19 April 2005, Pope Benedict XVI pledged to work for the full and visible unity of all of Christ’s followers, Dr Stephen G. Brown, editor of the World Council of Churches journal The Ecumenical Review, has recalled in an address to a symposium in Dublin.
World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared warm greetings with the 68th General Assembly Meeting of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT).
