Lasting friendships and gleaning a wealth of knowledge are the abiding memory of students every year who graduate from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey outside Geneva.
Amidst a global outpouring, tributes and condolences at a memorial service, Canon Dr Agnes Regina Murei Abuom was celebrated as bold Christian, peacemaker, and resolute ecumenist.
At an Anglican Church in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, rhymes, children’s songs, and noises in a school are constant reminder of Dr Agnes Regina Murei Abuom, the global ecumenist and peacemaker who died on 31 May at age 73.
In Renk, a small South Sudanese town on the banks of the White Nile, churches are working to help thousands of people fleeing the war in the neighbouring Sudan.
Observing the UN International Day for Biodiversity on 22 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) co-organized a hybrid conference on the role of religion and civil societies in biodiversity protection.
Following three years of severe drought, in 2018 the City of Cape Town faced an unprecedented water crisis, known as “Day Zero.” Severe water restrictions were introduced to avoid Day Zero, the day in which the city would run out of water.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, in a public statement, urged a permanent cessation of hostilities in Sudan, where people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe following weeks of intense fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
Statement on the Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan by the Executive committee of the World Council of Churches, meeting via video conference on 22-26 May 2023.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is celebrated in the southern hemisphere from 21-28 May. Below, Rev. Canon Michael Wallace, vicar for the Dunedin North Anglican Parish Te Pāriha o Ōtepoti ki te Raki, reflects on his hopes for observing the special week in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Major global faith-based organizations are responding to the G7 meeting in Hiroshima by expressing dismay that heads of state have failed to take steps to phase out fossil fuels and fund climate-related loss and damage. The groups are renewing their calls for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shared joyful congratulations with Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who was installed as new primate of Anglican Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.
In a pastoral letter to churches and ecumenical partners in Sudan, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended prayers for peace for the suffering of the people.
“We have received with sadness and alarm recent reports of the escalating impacts of the current conflict and insecurity on the churches and religious communities of the country,” Pillay wrote.
In February 2023, members of the Stop Killer Robots coalition met in Costa Rica to consider the impact of digital dehumanisation - a process in which humans are reduced to data points, on which decisions are made which can negatively impact us. The potential of such automated harm includes injury or death from the use of autonomous weapon systems.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) hosted the 11th Ecumenical Global Health Partners Meeting on 26 April. The online meeting gave WCC and its partners an opportunity to share strategic directions on health and healing programmes for the period 2023-2030.
Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.
Amidst amplified calls for peace in Sudan, a glimmer of hope has spread in the northeastern African country, after fighting forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire.
"The soldiers went away because you were watching.”
“I am able to herd my sheep near the military base because I feel safe in the presence of ecumenical accompaniers, and settler harassment is much less when you are around.”
“We feel safe when the ecumenical accompaniers are present.”
