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For Samira Dajani-Budeiri, the very soil on which she stands in Sheikh Jarrah is sacred. Her home and the ground on which it stands is wrapped in memories of her parents, her neighbors—and her wish to live in peace and dignity.

A church leader in South Sudan is urging the international community to keep its focus on the growing humanitarian crisis in the world’s youngest nation, as the globe beams its attention on the conflict in Ukraine.

The following feature story is part of a series that continues this year’s Easter Initiative, which offers a glimpse into the daily lives of Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, living in and around Jerusalem, some of the challenges they face, and what gives them hope. The concept of sacredness underscores these stories. Below, Sheikh Maher Assaf’s story, set in Bethlehem, speaks to the sacredness of worship, and how freedom of religion is key to achieving peace.

The following feature story is part of a series that begins this year’s Easter Initiative, which will offer a glimpse into the daily lives of Palestinians, Muslims and Christians, living in and around Jerusalem, some of the challenges they face, and what gives them hope. The concept of sacredness underscores these stories. Below, Yacoub Rajabi’s story speaks to the sacredness of human dignity—and the sacredness of life itself.

A five-day online training workshop, “Achieving Racial Justice Through Human Rights Mechanisms,” from 21-25 February, drew over 30 participants from 13 different countries.

While the World Council of Churches (WCC) deeply appreciates peace-building efforts in South Sudan, the WCC is also calling attention to the dire circumstances in which the people of South Sudan are still forced to lead their daily lives.

After heads of churches in the Holy Land voiced their objections to a proposal to expand Jerusalem Walls National Park to include property owned by several churches in the city, Israel's Nature and Parks Authority announced on 21 February that it was backing down from the plan.

At the end of a 9 February press conference — which followed a long day of videoconference meetings — Dr Agnes Abuom and Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauce fielded a surprise question: what first got them involved in the ecumenical movement?

A recent webinar, “Voices from Bethlehem: Christian Unity in the Birthplace of Jesus,” organized by the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome and the Methodist Liaison Office Jerusalem, offered a discussion of the importance of Christian unity in contemporary times in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus.

One hundred and thirty Jewish volunteers planted 400 olive trees last week in Palestinian villages, continuing their work even following at least one violent attack.

An ecumenical leader in South Sudan has appealed to the world not to give up on his country, which during the first decade of its independence has repeatedly slid backward into political and ethnic violence.

From diverse regions and churches, hundreds of people drew together in 2021 to find ways to end child abuse. Through a campaign called “Out of the Shadows,” churches held workshops, trained champions, distributed materials, and augmented the drumbeat for awareness, buoyed by resources from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its partners.

As churches and other groups battle sexual and gender-based violence, it is urgent to include men in trainings and amplify the issues for global accompaniment and support, church women leaders, lay members and gender advocates recommended at a recent church human rights training in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Many women and girls are still struggling to attain their fundamental human rights, despite churches and the systems of the world affirming the equality of men and women, a church human rights training for young women and girls in Nigeria heard recently.