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In a letter sent Friday to the Christian Council of Norway, WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fkyse Tveit and the Moderator of the WCC Central Committee, Rev. Dr Walter Altmann expressed their “deep shock and sadness” concerning the attacks of last week.  “We wish to express our deepest solidarity with the people, churches and authorities of Norway,” they said.

This past week the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, was quoted by the Associated Press concerning the situation in Norway.

WCC Faith and Order director Canon Dr John Gibaut today cited progress in the work of the Faith and Order Commission at the annual meeting of its standing commission outside Milan.

“Norway has today experienced an unprecedented and horrible level of violence against innocent people,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, a Norwegian Lutheran pastor and general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

A common charter reflecting the essential elements of quality in theological education for schools of all denominational backgrounds was proposed recently by representatives of the World Conference of Associations of Theological Institutions (WOCATI) at a meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Christian theologians, historians and ecumenical activists take stock of the current state of ecumenism and the future of the movement for Christian unity in the newest issue of Ecumenical Review.

by Theodore Gill (*)

As Poland prepares to host the European Football Championship in 2012, Christians in the country have put the meaning of "victory" and "defeat" at the centre of their reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity that will be celebrated earlier in the year. Preparatory resources based on these reflections are already available in five languages on the website of the World Council of Churches ( WCC).

Young Christians aged 18-30 years are invited to apply for a programme addressing the links between environmental and socio-economic justice which is jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in the context of United Nations climate negotiations in the latter part of 2011.

South Sudan achieves its independence on Saturday 9 July 2011, and the new president has received congratulations and an assurance of continued solidarity from the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). In a letter dated 7 July on behalf of the WCC, Tveit extended to the president of the Republic of South Sudan, General Salva Kiir Mayardit, “our prayers and very best wishes for the bright and peaceful future of your country and people.”

Hendrew Lusey has never forgotten the words he first heard at a World Council of Churches (WCC) workshop on human sexuality in 2002. At that time, he had recently been appointed the regional coordinator for central Africa with the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

Conflicts over water threaten peace in the world, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, told a gathering in Germany on the banks of the River Danube to mark the end of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV).

A communiqué has been issued following a June meeting of the Asian Forum on Theological Education (AFTE), in which 15 representatives of diverse regional and national Christian associations call for solidarity in theological education in Asian churches “transcending stereotyped views of each other as ‘ecumenicals’, ‘evangelicals’ or ‘charismatics’”. Theological educators throughout Asia are requested to engage in closer dialogue, networking, the sharing of resources and cooperation in training of church leaders.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, is in Bern to meet the leadership of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (FSPC) its member churches. The agenda included a discussion of core issues facing the worldwide ecumenical movement.

The need for increased dialogue among churches in the Middle East and with churches in the East and West were only two of the many concerns addressed by 30 theologians, social scientists, politicians and church representatives at a recent conference in Volos, Greece.

"€œChristian Witness in a Multi-Religious World: Recommendations for Conduct"€, a five-page document on the conduct of mission "€œaccording to gospel principles", was released during a public presentation on Tuesday 28 June 2011 at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

The HIV pandemic has been on the world stage for three decades now.  For most of that time the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its member churches have been deeply involved in making churches and theological institutions HIV-competent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

A call to churches worldwide to educate people about racism was made by church leaders from across the Americas and the Caribbean at the end of a conference held last week in Managua, Nicaragua.

Dr Jorge Ramirez Reyna, president of Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de Derechos Humanos (Black Association for Human Rights Defense and Promotion, ASONEDH) in Peru, reflects on the issue of racism in his country and the role of the conference on the Violence of Racism in Latin America, which was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) 22-24 June in Managua, Nicaragua. He was interviewed by Sean Hawkey.

The silence of the international community to the plight of millions of North Koreans facing starvation and severe malnutrition was of deep concern to the members of an ecumenical forum for peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula, which met last week, 16 to 19 June, in Nanjing, China.