Search results

An upcoming WCC consultation in Bangkok will attempt a distinctive mode of inter-religious dialogue.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed “great sadness” over the death of Dr Mathai Zachariah, remembering him as a “visionary”, recognizing his contributions to the ecumenical movement.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed “deepest sorrow” on the death of Patriarch Ignatius IV (Hazim) of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East. He passed away on 5 December in Lebanon, at age 92.Â

The World Council of Churches (WCC) “ is defined by all the three key words in our name. We are global, in all continents, and therefore also in solidarity with one another, seeking peace in all its meaning for the whole earth,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) congratulates the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople for receiving the Freedom of Worship Award of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute which acknowledges his efforts in promoting religious freedom, dialogue and environmental concerns.

Recent violent acts of terror in south-western France have been condemned in the strongest terms by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

How is Christian identity defined today? What is the relationship between Christian identity, spirituality, religious plurality and Christian-self understanding? Rev. Carlos Emilio Ham addressed these and other questions at the International Union of Superiors General’s (UISG) Assembly of the Constellation of Rome, on 12 January.

The dignity of work and workers is a common value among the faith traditions. It is also the focus of a policy handbook titled Convergences: Decent Work and Social Justice in Religious Traditions , for which the World Council of Churches (WCC) has collaborated with the International Labour Organization (ILO) .

The first draft of a new mission statement for the World Council of Churches (WCC) was at the centre of a 5-day meeting recently held by the 25-member Commission for World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) on the campus of the University of Ghana near Accra.

Remembering the thousands of people killed in the coordinated assault on 11 September 2001 in the United States of America, and its unfortunate consequences in Afghanistan and Iraq, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sends out a message honouring the victims, and promoting a culture of peace.

by Theodore Gill (*)

The annual observation of a world-wide Interfaith Harmony Week has been scheduled for the first seven days of February beginning in 2011. One of the groups that has endorsed the initiative was a global consultation of Muslim and Christian organizations addressing the topic “Transforming Communities” in November 2010. The consultation was convened at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and was jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Islamic Call Society and A Common Word.

“Our theology is not the same,” said Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan, “but we are all in the same boat.” The prince was addressing an assembly of Christians and Muslims gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to mark the beginning on Monday of a four-day international consultation on Muslim-Christian dialogue.

At the 50th meeting since its foundation in 1946, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) decided to refocus, establishing four thematic working groups, in order better to respond to the needs of the member churches.

Some forty-five religious, interfaith, and value-based organizations from five continents agreed to form a coalition to advance a "United Nations Decade for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding, and Cooperation for Peace." Coalition members expressed the hope that the UN Sixty-Fourth General Assembly, which will begin its deliberations in September 2009, will approve a resolution establishing such a decade from 2011-2020.

The rapidly changing relationship between religion and state and the challenge of multiple identities were the foci of a lively dialogue between ten Chinese and nine European scholars and religious leaders representing Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and traditional Chinese religions held in Sweden, 3-6 October.

Krister Stendahl, eminent ecumenist, New Testament scholar, former bishop of Stockholm and dean of the Harvard Divinity School, died Tuesday in Boston at 86 years of age.