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By Jonathan Frerichs (*)

The election of a new general secretary for the organization and the selection of the venue for its next assembly were highlights of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting that ended yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has called on member churches to "recognize that the continued discrimination and exclusion of millions of people on the basis of caste" is a "serious challenge to the credibility of their witness to their faith in God".

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The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged its member churches "to publicly condemn violence against women" in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and declare that "violence against women is a sin".

The WCC Central Committee on Wednesday, 2 September adopted a minute on the responsibility of churches for communities enduring anti-Christian violence. Numerous central committee members brought the concern to the body's public issues committee.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee called on the Israeli government to freeze and begin to dismantle settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. It also encouraged a commitment to non-violence and peace negotiations, and reiterated the need for an international boycott of products and services from settlements.

The WCC Central Committee called on the government of Pakistan to “guarantee the rights of all religious minorities in the country”.

by Walt Wiltschek (*)

The World Council of Churches Central Committee on Tuesday, 1 September, adopted a minute on the right of conscientious objection to military service. It cites a recent WCC study showing "that in many places churches face challenges of conscientious objection", which allows those whose conscience prohibits them from military service to engage in alternate means of service.

The World Council of Churches Central Committee again took up the issue of Sudan at meetings in Geneva this week, issuing a “Statement on the Darfur crisis in the context of Sudan”. Since early 2003, the statement says, “the conflict in Darfur has unleashed an overwhelming wave of violence resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and an immense humanitarian crisis”.

How does the church interact with a rapidly changing society? On 31 August, members of the World Council of Churches Central Committee spent much of the morning discussing this question in a pair of plenary sessions in Geneva.

“Tears are not enough.” Fernando Enns spoke that phrase in introductory remarks to the World Council of Churches central committee on 28 August. It was repeated several times during a morning plenary session on the WCC’s upcoming International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC).

Central committee members will choose between three potential sites for the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, to be held in 2013: Busan, South Korea; Damascus, Syria; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia sounded notes of hope as he delivered his final address as general secretary to the World Council of Churches central committee on 26 August.

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Any solution to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) must engage the whole nation – not just the eastern region where violence is centred, a small ecumenical team visiting the Bas Congo and Kasai Oriental provinces has learned.

As the world faces an "unprecedented situation of increasing violence, proliferation of non-state armed groups, and non-international armed conflicts", the "effective compliance with the Geneva Conventions" appears as an "urgent priority", said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. In a public statement marking the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, Kobia stressed that "the complexity of today's armed conflicts" requires the international community "to think of new ways to strengthen effective mechanisms to ensure respect for the Geneva Conventions".

An international ecumenical team that visited Honduras on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) has encouraged the churches in Honduras to "accompany the people in their search for peace with justice and the re-establishment of democracy".

"Ecumenical and international support for the United Church of Canada (UCC) in its on-going work for peace with justice in Israel-Palestine" was expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia. In a letter sent today to the leaders of the church, as it begins its 2009 General Conference in Kelowna, Canada, Kobia states: "This is a cause the UCC has faithfully supported. It is one in which your efforts to speak truth to power and to discern just solutions with love have inspired other member churches of the WCC."