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With great sadness, the World Council of Churches (WCC) received news of the demise of Prof. Vuyani Vellem on 4 December. A member of the WCC’s Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, Vellem was director of the Centre for Public Theology and associate professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also served as deputy secretary of the South Africa Council of Churches.

Participants at the Africa Pre-Conference of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, arrived in black clothing on 14 September to act in solidarity with the worldwide “Thursdays in Black" campaign.

Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, the WCC president for Africa, the Rev. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.

Frauen afrikanischer Herkunft sind seit Jahrzehnten eine Antriebskraft der weltweiten ökumenischen Bewegung, werden aber immer noch nicht angemessen für ihren Beitrag gewürdigt. Es sei an der Zeit, dies zu ändern, meinen die Organisatorinnen eines Netzwerks afrikanischer Theologinnen, Laiinnen und Geistlichen innerhalb des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK).

Women of African descent have been a force within the global ecumenical movement for decades but are still not well recognized for their contributions. It is time for that to change, say the organizers of a network of pan African theologians, laywomen and clergy within the WCC.