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On 20 July, faith communities from 70 different groups across the world gathered online and in-person in Washington, DC to express solidarity for the billions of people without access to COVID-19 vaccines.

As religious leaders in the USA gathered online for a Faiths4Vaccines National Summit on 26 May, they heard a clear message from policymakers and scientists leading the COVID-19 response: churches are not only caring for people’s health but for their souls, too.

Former World Council of Churches (WCC) communications director Mark E. Beach was honoured at a commemorative prayer service on 22 September.

Religions for Peace is the world's largest and most representative multi-religious coalition, and as in other multi-faith groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its ecumenical family figure strongly in its leadership bodies.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended his condolences and prayers to the family upon the passing on 14 January of Rev. Dr George Ed-ward Todd.

A Roundtable for Peace on the Korean Peninsula convened in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) on 8-12 November, building on decades of progress by the Korean Methodist Church, United Methodist Church, and World Methodist Council, as well the Korean Christian Federation and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Promoting responsible agricultural investments was the theme of a session organised by the WCC at the Civil Society Policy Forum of the World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings held in Washington DC from 9-13 October. “There is no doubt we need to invest more in agriculture – it feeds us all and remains an important source of employment, especially for the world’s poor,” said Athena Peralta, WCC programme executive for economic and ecological justice.

As tens of thousands of people coped with the aftermath of flooding in South Asia and the USA, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said the WCC fellowship is praying for flood survivors and those helping them.

As the recent developments of nuclear weapons and increased tensions between United States and North Korea leaders can bring the world to the brink of war, churches around the world are calling for bilateral dialogue, expressing their commitment to peace and nonviolent resolution.

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s countries have now begun negotiations to ban nuclear weapons. One-hundred-thirty-two governments from all regions took part in the first-ever such talks at the United Nations on 27-31 March. There is concerted opposition to the talks from nuclear-armed governments and their allies.

Faith-based organizations and religious leaders must be included in efforts to address the challenges of human trafficking and forced migration, representatives of the United Nations, international organizations, Member States and civil society have said.

“Negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons”. Do it “in 2017”. Make sure the negotiations are “open to all states” and include civil society. These are key points in a much-disputed report adopted last week by a United Nations working group of more than 100 countries meeting in Geneva.

An American mission agency is inviting people worldwide to pray for women throughout the month of March. The Lott Carey Global Prayer Partnership for women’s empowerment has gathered 31 prayers from its international mission partners and Americans that it hopes will inspire acts of support for women’s concerns.

Following the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the WCC is calling on all parties involved in the current situation on the Korean peninsula – especially South Korea, North Korea, the USA, Japan and China – to “invest in initiatives to reduce tensions, to promote dialogue and to encourage negotiations for an end to the suspended state of war, and for peaceful co-existence on the Korean peninsula, rather than measures that increase the risk of catastrophic conflict“, according to WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

The ecumenical movement is mourning the passing on 27 December in Thiruvananthapuram, India of His Eminence the Rt Rev. Dr Zacharias Mar Theophilus, Suffragan Metropolitan of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church.

As an ecumenical delegation to Japan participates in Hiroshima Day observances on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, the WCC has published a liturgical resource and invites churches around the world to join in prayer.

Church leaders from seven countries currently making historic choices for or against outlawing nuclear weapons will embark on a pilgrimage in early August to the two Japanese cities that were decimated by atomic bombs 70 years ago.

“Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the values upheld by our respective faith traditions”, representatives of some 50 Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish organizations said on 1 May. The inter-religious statement came in a joint call to the 191 governments participating in the world’s largest disarmament treaty. The call, co-sponsored by the WCC, was made during civil society presentations to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York City.

A reflection on the recent United Nations meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by Jonathan Frerichs, WCC programme executive for peace building and disarmament, and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.