Search results

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, as head of a delegation visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), offered a sermon on 19 August encouraging peacemakers during an ecumenical service in the Protestant Cathedral in Kinshasa.

As election polls closed in Zimbabwe on 31 July, and people awaited announcements of results, reports on the ground were indicating that, although peace was holding, the situation is tense.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on “The Oneness of the Ecumenical Movement” at the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) 11th General Assembly, being held in Kigali, Rwanda from 1-7 July.

‘Walking, praying and working together’ was the theme of Pope Francis’ 21 June visit to Geneva to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Among those listening to the Pope's words was Pentecostal pastor Rev. Frank Chikane, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) participated in the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Civil Society (UNCTAD) Forum held at the Palais de Nations in Geneva on 24 May ahead of the UNCTAD board meeting on 4-12 June.

"Churches can play a fundamental role in building peace in Colombia," said Colombia president Juan Manuel Santos, on 28 February, during his keynote speech at a public forum promoted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Cartagena, Colombia.

During a solidarity visit in Kenya on 10-12 October, leaders from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee met with Kenyan church representatives, expressed their support for Kenyan churches working toward peace and justice, and deepened their vision for future WCC events, including the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism set for March 2018.

In a joint statement from the National Council of Churches of Kenya and the All Africa Conference of Churches, Kenyan communities expressed their hopes for peace in the lead-up to elections slated for 8 August.

The WCC general secretary extended condolences on the death of Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, former moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA).

With a prayer service on Ash Wednesday in Sealite Mihret Orthodox cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the WCC's Ecumenical Water Network began its annual Lenten campaign “Seven Weeks for Water”. This year during Lent it will raise awareness of water justice issues in Africa.

The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

On his way to a Peace-building and Reconciliation Consultation in Johannesburg, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary stopped off to visit South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.

WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, went to Cape Town to talk with Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, the former leader of the Anglican church during the turbulent apartheid days.

“Statelessness renders people’s vulnerability to abuse and to denial of their rights invisible to national authorities. In this sense the right to a nationality is a threshold issue for access to protection of all other human rights - almost a 'right to have rights'”, said Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), following a regional training workshop on birth registration and gender discriminatory nationality laws in Africa, organized by the WCC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11–13 May.

The African continent bears witness to the tragic consequences of the manipulation of religion to incite violence. Yet it is also the home of untold instances of the power of religious leaders and actors to exert a positive influence, said panellists at an international meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today.

The average person in Europe may be having more difficulty coming to terms with the reality of migrants and refugees than ever before, said Maria Mountraki, given how close to home — literally — the influx of people has become.

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde leads an African group supporting ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Its interfaith campaign is especially significant on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan.

Rev. Kakule Molo, president of the Baptist Community in Central Africa, reflected on the rule of law and the electoral process in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a side-event at the 30th Session of the Human Rights Council on 16 September in Geneva, Switzerland.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.