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As the world marks the 16 Days of Activism on Gender Based Violence, religious leaders, human rights activists, and development partners in Tanzania joined on 5 December to discuss the human rights of girls and women, including those with disabilities, in a forum titled “Wealth of Knowledge and a Wealth of Care.”

Today the world joins in mourning the passing of a towering figure in the struggle for freedom and for human dignity and rights.

Archbishop Rev. Dr Soritua Albert Ernest Nababan, a global ecumenical leader, passed away on 8 May in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the age of 88. He was the World Council of Churches (WCC) president from 2006-2013 and served as the former Ephorus (Archbishop) of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, the largest Protestant church in Indonesia and the largest Lutheran church in Asia with a membership of 4 million people.

WCC interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent a video greeting to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan’s 65th General Assembly.

As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate Easter shuttered in their homes, they will still find the joy of the day and feel closer to each other, thanks to creative thinking by church leaders.

From including photos of church members within webcast worship services, to placing written greetings at doorways, Easter celebrations can still safely connect people who want to celebrate the resurrection of their common Lord.

Impacts of the climate change and the lingering health and environmental effects of nuclear testing on the countries in the Pacific region are among the issues to be discussed at the meeting of the WCC’s Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), convened from 19 to 21 February in Brisbane, Australia.

Indigenous peoples are not only on the frontline of climate change impacts, they are also uniquely equipped with expertise to help defend ecology. Two groups - the Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples’ Networks Reference Group and the Working Group on Climate Change of the World Council of Churches (WCC) - underscored this idea as they met to discuss the world’s climate emergency. Both are composed of theologians, indigenous persons, scientists and experts on ecology and economy, representing churches from around the world.

The Arusha Call to Discipleship is at once exhilarating, transformative and challenging to the point of discomfort for some, reflected leaders of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) during a 20 May press conference and book launch in Helsinki, Finland.

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches, one of Christianity’s oldest and has been in Africa since 330 AD, so there was joy and celebrations when on 27 July it declared an end to a 27-year-old schism that had torn it apart.

In a plenary presentation given at the 11th All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) Assembly in Kigali, Rwanda, on 5 July, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Isabel Apawo Phiri offered “An Overview on the Imperative of Diakonia for the Church.”

Since a small scholarship got her involved in the ecumenical movement, Sana Jennifer’s future has been staked out. She started as a bishop’s secretary and office administrator at the Diocese of Raiwind, Church of Pakistan, in Lahore three years ago and was appointed youth programme coordinator this year.

Metropolitan Dr Geevarghese Mor Coorilos is moderator of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. He is also author of a “Welcome” in the Handbook for the upcoming WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism. Below, Metropolitan Coorilos is featured in an interview that reflects on how we can prepare our ecumenical heart for the upcoming conference, which will occur in Arusha, Tanzania on 8-13 March.

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser has been on an ecumenical journey for most of his adult life, which spans 80 years. The former WCC general secretary relates some of this pilgrimage in his newest publication, “The Challenge of Transformation: An Ecumenical Journey.” On 5 February, shortly after Raiser’s birthday, ecumenical experts from different generations, confessions and continents met in Geneva to discuss the newest publication by the man who led the WCC from 1993 to 2003.

The adoption of consensus decision-making for WCC meetings was proposed in 2002. Dr Jill Tabart of the Uniting Church in Australia was consensus mentor as these new meeting procedures were introduced at the 9th Assembly and beyond.

It’s 70 years since the World Council of Churches was founded in Amsterdam on 23 August. In addition to a commemoration service in Amsterdam on 23 August, the WCC, its member churches and partners are planning a variety of events to move forward on our ongoing Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, and at the same time honour and learn from these 70 years of ecumenical endeavour. Dr Abuom, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, is the moderator of the WCC Central Committee. She is the first woman and the first African in the position in WCC’s history. In an interview, she reflects on the evolution of the WCC in the past 70 years.

After an historic meeting in South Africa in June 2017, study groups within the WCC Faith and Order Commission are using theological reflection as a tool to build unity between churches. The questions Faith and Order considers are not abstract issues but, in many contexts across the world, matters of life and death.