The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, at a meeting in London from 1-5 December, hosted by United Society of Partners in the Gospel, explored the concept of mission as reparatory justice.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) planning group met on 23-25 November, praying together and envisioning the future with a focus on the WCC Strategic Plan.
Churches are expressing solidarity with refugees in Lampedusa, the Italian island on which thousands of migrants arrived last week, overloading local resources.
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.
On 30 June, the World Council of Churches and Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe will host a conversation “remembering all victims of Whiteness, with a particular focus on “The Criminalisation of Blackness and the Toxicity of ‘Greener Pastures".
A webinar on 25 April will explore obstacles, opportunities, and strategies to combat racism, xenophobia and racial discrimination in the church and in the world.
Opening the launch of the text “Future of Mission Cooperation”—the last in a World Council of Churches (WCC) trilogy reflecting on the centenary of the International Missionary Council—WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay described the volume as “the outcome of a rich and long process.”
During an Africa-Europe Ecumenical Forum on Migration, held 15-19 March In Hamburg, Germany, nearly 60 people gathered to discuss, among many other issues, the negative effects of “irregular” migration, caused in part by the growth of inequality within and between countries.
On International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, being observed 9 August with a UN virtual commemoration, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its commitment to partnering with Indigenous Peoples to renew creation.
Churches in Africa and disabled persons organizations are condemning the use of disabled children as beggars and slaves, amid media reports of cross-border smuggling of the children between Kenya and Tanzania.
On 20 June, World Refugee Day, a World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar will focus on statelessness and the recently addopted “Interfaith Affirmations on Belongingness.”
All are invited to celebrate the result of the World Association for Christian Communication’s (WACC) five-month, cross-regional journalist training program on migration and refugee issues via an online presentation on 9 June.
Three World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrim Team Visits, one to Italy, a second to Armenia and a third to Norway, are continuing the WCC’s accompaniment for communities in their quest for justice and peace under the theme of “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity,” through the lenses of post-war trauma healing, gender justice, and migration.
A 25 May webinar—held on the exact same date of the tragic killing of George Floyd—will explore how the racial justice landscape has evolved, particularly in the United States as well as at the United Nations (UN).
On the UN International Day of Conscience, 5 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) releases a new volume of “I Belong – Biblical Reflections on Statelessness”. The day highlights the need for the creation of conditions of stability, peaceful coexistence, respect for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, language or religion.
A webinar on 1 March—Zero Discrimination Day—will explore the theme “COVID-19, Casteism and Caste discrimination: How to mitigate pandemic-reinforced inequality and discrimination.”
When the World Council of Churches (WCC) launched the Programme to Combat Racism after years of in-depth theological reflections and prayer in 1971, South Africa's insidious racist apartheid policies were in full throw. The programme brought the WCC into the world's spotlight. Yet racism did not start 50 years ago. And it did not end with the casting out of apartheid at the end of the 20th century. During that era, figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela fought racism in society and the church.
