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“I have cerebral palsy spastic quadriplegia, meaning all of my limbs are severely affected by my cerebral. However, I am not defined by my cerebral palsy. There's much more to me than my cerebral palsy,” Julius Van Der Wat, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria, South Africa, told a recent churches’ disability conference in South Africa.

With a close look at the “skin-whitening pandemic,” a 4 December webinar hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) explored the intersections of mission, gender, racism, and health. 

Churches should promote disability studies in theological institutions and recruit persons into ordained ministry, youth with disabilities urged after attending the 12^th General Assembly of the All Africa Conference of Churches in Abuja, Nigeria.

With a focus on peacebuilding and human rights protection, The United Evangelical Mission’s International Summer School 2023, organized in cooperation with the World Council of Churches and other partners, took place in August and September in Hofgeismar, Germany.

In the search for true repentance and liberation, Africa needs to acknowledge its complicity in slave trade, says Rev. Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

Amid a warning that a famine is “at the doorstep” in eastern Africa, church leaders are re-stressing urgent action to save millions of people caught in a drought described as the worst in 40 years.

A consultation for theological institutions in Uganda, held 12-15 September, harnessed the contribution of theological institutions in promoting gender equity in the context of HIV and sexual and gender-based violence.

At a workshop held at the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly, participants expressed grave concerns over the fact that, although public health experts warned about the dangers of ignoring other epidemiological efforts at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries had to reshuffle critical medical resources, thereby preventing routine treatment of HIV.

On World Food Safety Day, clerics and farmers in Kenya reflected about aflatoxin—a group of poisons found in maize and peanuts—that continue to cause deaths and related diseases in the East African country.

In drought-stricken regions in eastern Africa, churches and church congregations continue to pray for rain, as the weather conditions leave millions of people without food, water and pasture for their animals.

A campaign guide for churches concerned about autonomous weapons systems, also known as “killer robots,” has been released in English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese.

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.

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.

In the first of a two-part webinar series on “Missing and Murdered: Addressing Femicide and Sexual and Gender-based Violence in our Global Context,” speakers on 25 November urged religious leaders and all people to be aware of the root causes of femicide and gender-based violence—and act now to end them.

A symposium exploring the complex question of misleading theologies in Africa ended here on 24 November, amid concerns that the phenomenon was harming the efforts to combat coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other diseases.

Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, has expressed hope that the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to new types of fellowship, where churches can build back better.

The World Council of Churches Vaccine Champions shared their reflections on the status of vaccines in their home contexts, as well as the important role churches are playing in moving toward vaccine equity.

As vaccination programmes are being rolled out in more and more countries, there is hope for an end of a pandemic which has brought fear and anxiety around the globe since early 2020. A return to an everyday life, where people can socialize with family and friends, go to work as they used to and worship God together in church on Sundays, is eagerly awaited. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on what many are calling a “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence, African faith leaders are amplifying their call for increased action for prevention and support for those affected.