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The 70-year-old War Armistice Agreement should be replaced with a peace treaty, urged the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee in a public statement. “In a time of renewed escalation of tensions and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, we recall that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Armistice Agreement which established a ceasefire, but not a formal end, to the Korean War,” reads the text. “We pray for peace and dialogue to end this dangerous cycle, and for denuclearization not only of the Korean Peninsula but of the entire world.”

The situation for people in Myanmar—including more than one million ethnic Rohingyas—is increasingly concerning, as expressed in the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee minute. 

As a search continued for missing migrants after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Greece, the World Council of Churches (WCC) conveyed prayers to the families of victims, and to the churches in Greece and elsewhere that are responding.

A webinar on 16 June, co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in collaboration with partners, will highlight how children, often overlooked as victims of global injustice, possess the inherent power to ignite transformative change.

During the World Council of Churches (WCC) leadership delegation visit to Ukraine in May, an ecumenical prayer service was held in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on 12 May. The service, led by the WCC leadership, WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, WCC moderator Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, with participation of members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO), took place at St Andrew Orthodox Church in Bucha.

A webinar on 25 May, “Exploring the nexus between racism, xenophobia and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and African Union (AU) free movement protocol,” marked Africa Day by focusing on the potential of faith communities, especially Christians, in bridging the gaps that continue to frustrate the free movement of people and goods around the continent.

World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed concern over a violent protest by rightwing Jewish activists against an Evangelical Christian event in Jerusalem on 28 May.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, in a public statement, urged a permanent cessation of hostilities in Sudan, where people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe following weeks of intense fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared joyful congratulations with Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who was installed as new primate of Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

World Council of Churches central committee moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm delivered a lecture at the Kitzingen deanery, a regional church district near Würzburg, for the parishes of the deanery as well as for the public. The lecture, entitled “Just Peace through Military Force? Peace Ethical Considerations in Light of the War of Aggression against Ukraine,” was offered on 29 April

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay is visiting Moscow this week, meeting with H.H. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, and representatives from the largest WCC member church.

The World Council of Churches joined other global and regional groups in delivering to the UN an interfaith statement in support of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.

During the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe”—when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948—World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with member churches in the Holy Land.

In a statement commemorating the Palestinians on the 75th anniversary of the “Al-Nakba,” the Council of Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem reiterates the churches’ call to strive for a just and lasting peace for in the Holy Land.

During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.

Against the background of the Russian invasion and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, a high-level WCC leadership delegation visiting Ukraine undertook an intensive series of consultations in Kyiv on 11 May 2023, with church leaders, Ukrainian government officials, and others.

Thirteen-year-old Ellyanne Chlystun-Githae Wanjiku, from Kenya, gave a clarion call during a 9 May webinar on climate responsible banking: “The children are not afraid to follow the money,” she said—and that means learning about responsible banking and influencing policy.

A delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is visiting Ukraine on 10-12 May to renew relations with churches and religious organizations and to explore possibilities of joint efforts to achieve just peace in Ukraine.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed deep concern about the ongoing ethnic and communal violence which flared up last week in India’s north-eastern State of Manipur, involving the Hindu majority Meitei community and the mostly Christian Naga and Kuki tribal communities.

In a pastoral letter to the churches of South Sudan and to Norwegian Church Aid, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed shock and sadness about the news of an attack on Norwegian Church Aid vehicles in Imehejek, Lopa Lafon, in the Eastern Equatoria region of South Sudan.