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Amidst the current tense situation in Burundi, representatives of the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches have embarked on a solidarity visit to Burundi from 1 to 4 March.

While news headlines continue to document tragedies on land and sea as desperate people flee violence and abject poverty in their homelands, representatives of governments, UN agencies and civil society organizations, including churches and faith-based organizations, met 18-19 January at a high-level conference on the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Children need to know their place in the church. And that is at the front, not the back”, said Bishop Raphael Opoko from the Methodist Church of Nigeria, speaking at a round table discussion on promoting the rights of children held on 19 November at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Violence in the name of religion echoed in the distance, demanding a response, through the November 2015 meeting of the 25-member Executive Committee of the WCC in Bogis-Bossey and nearby Geneva, Switzerland as it planned the work of the Council in the coming years.

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was to have been the principal focus of the service of Sunday morning prayer on 15 November in the cathedral church of Saint-Pierre at the summit of Geneva’s old town. Following terror attacks in Beirut and Paris killing and wounding hundreds of civilians over the preceding days, the prayers of the Protestant Church of Geneva and the WCC Executive Committee took on a new dimension.

Churches continue to play their role in peace building for South Sudan despite the dashed hopes of many in the world’s newest nation, the moderator of the WCC said at a regional meeting.

The WCC Executive Committee discussed at their meeting 8-12 June, in Armenia, the alarming situation in South Sudan where people continue to be killed, raped, displaced and tortured. The humanitarian situation is reported to be deteriorating.

As the tragic situation of conflict in South Sudan moves into its 17th month, the World Council of Churches (WCC) invites its member churches to a special day of prayer on Sunday, 10 May, for those affected by the South Sudanese conflict, for the revival of fruitful peace talks, and for new ways ahead.

The WCC in collaboration with the South Sudan Council of Churches convened church leaders for a special consultation on the South Sudan Peace Process in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

To express solidarity with churches and people in Israel and Palestine, the leadership of the WCC Central Committee has undertaken a visit to Israel and Palestine from 7 to 12 March.

A statement issued by the WCC Executive Committee on 25 November has made strong recommendations urging all countries to take special measures to protect and support refugees and displaced people from the Middle East, especially those from countries like Syria, Iraq and Israel-Palestine.

The spiritual head of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, welcomed members of the WCC Executive Committee at his office in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 25 November.

WCC leaders and President Nicos Anastasiades of Cyprus have discussed reunification of Cyprus and reconciliation among communities at a meeting on 25 November in the island's divided capital Nicosia.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

The moderator of the WCC Central Committee called for an openness to change in an era of encounter with “different types of cultures and religions”.

“The senseless war in South Sudan must end now,” said the WCC general secretary, following the pastoral visit of a high-level ecumenical delegation to local churches in Juba, South Sudan on 2 May.

A high-level ecumenical delegation representing church organizations will arrive in Juba, South Sudan on Friday, 2 May, amidst continuing conflict in the country with an imminent threat of widespread hunger and malnutrition among its people. The delegation will meet with church leaders and government officials, urging immediate actions for peace and reconciliation.

The WCC Executive Committee, currently meeting in Switzerland, is working to translate the mandate of the WCC 10th Assembly into strategic plans and visible actions, focusing on the churches’ efforts toward a “pilgrimage for justice and peace”.

The newly elected moderator of the WCC Central Committee has called on the government of South Sudan to have a “Mandela moment” as it confronts the aftermath of violence on Monday.