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By Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia

Condolence letter to His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

Water, God\'s gift to sustain life, not only given for humans but also for the animals and plants. When I think about water in my context I think about rivers, rain, ocean, snow, ice, lakes, streams, waterfalls and dew. I also think about the responsibility required to take care of these gifts. 

There is beautiful simplicity and dedication in Jesus pouring water into a bowl and kneeling to wash his disciples\' feet. His passion and cross are not far away, yet he takes time to care for his friends in this intimate, passionate, gentle way. 

Water is the source of life. The mountain spring that quenches ones? thirst; showers of rain that rejuvenate the parched earth; swift rivers, still lochs and stormy seas that extend beyond the horizon, teeming with life.

The Psalmist offered his hearers an object lesson in the consequences of their collective behaviour. We don't know whether this was a reference to particular incidents but it was obviously the kind of thing with which people would have been familiar. The lack or abundance of water was not down to arbitrary actions by God but was related to the way people behaved.

by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia

In Isaiah's vision of justice and sharing, the promise is '"you shall be like a watered garden ... whose waters never fail." It is our Lenten hope that the waters of the garden of the earth will never fail for any of God\'s creatures.

The biblical promise from the prophet Isaiah is that the dry lands can spring with fountains, that wells of fresh water are possible, even in the desert, even when there is no justice in the way water is distributed and paid for.

This issue of Ministerial Formation is at the special occasion both of the Jubilee of ETE as well as the congress of the World Conference of Associations of Theological Institutions (WOCATI). 50 years of work in promoting ecumenical theological education in six continents - what a history of struggling, what accumulation of dedicated efforts of many gifted theological educators, what persistency in the promotion of both contextualization and globalization of theological education are imbedded in and part of these 50 years!

Statement presented by the Sudanese Council of Churches to the international ecumenical delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, visiting Sudan from 26 March to 2 April 2008.

On 13 October 2007 a group of 138 Muslim scholars addressed an open letter to Christian leaders. Among those addressed was the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches.
Based on initial responses from member churches, the WCC initiated a process of responding to the letter. Since November 2007 the WCC commenced consultation with its member churches and ecumenical partners, a number of whom responded with great enthusiasm. This was followed by a meeting of scholars and church experts engaged in the field of Christian-Muslim relations. Their deliberations produced the following commentary on the letter entitled "Learning to Explore Love Together". The commentary is intended to assist the churches in reading and responding to the letter "A Common Word". The document includes suggestions to encourage member churches and ecumenical partners in their reflection on the Letter and in its invitation to explore together with Muslim fellows the love of God and the love of neighbour in their respective contexts.
Churches and ecumenical partners are then invited to share their reflections with the WCC as a contribution to a common understanding of and a common response to this initiative.

Tribute by WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia

Tribute by WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia