Search results

Three years after the two Syrian archbishops were kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit is keeping hope alive and continuing to pray for their release.

Faith-based organizations presented significant input at a 6 April United Nations civil society hearing in New York City, a prelude to a UN High Level Meeting on HIV in New York on 8-10 June.

Preventing HIV, particularly among adolescents and youth, was the focus of a two-day meeting for 25 Sunday school teachers and chaplains from the Methodist Church of Togo, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo, Assemblies of God, Baptist Convention and Pentecostal Church.

“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.

The 13th International General Assembly of the Church of the Lord (Prayer Fellowship) was held in the Bantama area of Kumasi, Ghana from 9 to 16 November.

The role of faith-based communities in the electoral process of the Democratic Republic of Congo was explored in depth at an event organized by the National Endowment for Democracy in collaboration with the WCC.

The WCC welcomed an initiative by the South African government to propose a resolution on “Ethical Imperatives for a Nuclear-weapons-free World” for adoption at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed deep concern over the renewed wave of violence in Jerusalem. In a letter to WCC member churches in Palestine and Israel, he expressed solidarity with the churches and peoples of the land, and affirmed WCC’s commitment to justice and peace in Palestine and Israel.

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 kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls in April 2014 is sadly symbolic of the suffering of children in Nigeria, says the pastor who heads the Council of Churches of Nigeria.

The South Sudan Council of Churches has encouraged all parties to the conflict to sign the “Proposed Compromise Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.”

Focusing on issues related to sexuality, gender based violence and HIV and AIDS, leaders from African churches and civil society organizations engaged in lively discussions at a WCC workshop in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

As head of policy at Christian Aid, a key member of the ACT Alliance, Alison Kelly has an eye on sustainable development in what is seen as the prophetic voice of the church, which has a busy year in 2015.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

A major conference on peace and security in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), convened by the WCC, began on Wednesday its search for solutions to the DRC’s steepest challenges.

Global health and religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have noted the essential role faith-based organizations play in providing health services.In a consultation entitled: “The future of faith-based health care provision”, participants related some of their experiences in responding to the global Ebola crisis.

At the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Lesotho Evangelical Church, a WCC member church, WCC’s associate general secretary Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri expressed her deep admiration for its missionary legacy and its “clear witness for God”.

New members of the WCC Commission on Youth (ECHOS) have gathered for the first time, for a four-day meeting hosted by the Coptic Church in Cairo, Egypt.

The WCC remembers today, 24 April, the 1.5 million Armenian victims – children, women and men – who died 100 years ago.