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In a keynote speech on the theme of the 13 th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) "Called to Prophesy, Reconcile and Heal", the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) said: " There is no true prophecy that does not speak both the critical truth and contribute to the building up of a vision, a dream of the new life in common."

A joint response by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELKB) and the Roman Catholic dioceses of this southern German state to the document "Called to be the One Church" was given to the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on 15 March in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The prayer of Jesus that his disciples may be one so that the world may believe (John 17:21) takes on new urgency in view of the challenges peoples and churches are facing today", said the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, in welcoming a delegation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The endowment of two new scholarship funds geared towards facilitating studies at the Ecumenical Institute of the WCC was celebrated at the graduation ceremony for the 61st session of the institute's Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies on 3 February.

"God’s grace and Your Holiness’ genuine commitment has made Your first year as Spiritual Head of the Russian Orthodox Church a blessed and fruitful period, a year of great achievements in all fields of life of the Russian Orthodox Church," wrote WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a letter to Patriarch Kyrill of Moscow and All Russia on 1 February.

In a congratulatory letter to Bishop Irinej (Gavrilovic) of Nis, who was elected patriarch by the holy assembly of bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Friday, 22 January, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed "extraordinary joy" at the news of the election.

An international ecumenical delegation visiting Turkey at the end of November has encouraged the country's authorities to improve the situation of religious minorities. The exercise of religious freedom, the legal status of churches, including property issues, and the right to religious education were on the agenda.

The Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has honoured the memory of Lesslie Newbigin on the eve of what would have been the late bishop's 100th birthday. In the final Ecumenical Centre chapel sermon he will preach prior to the end of his term as WCC general secretary, Dr Kobia celebrated Newbigin as "an admirable ecumenist" with an "enthusiasm for crossing cultural boundaries". The author of such works as "Can the West be Saved?", "The Other Side of 1984" and "The Gospel in a Pluralist Society", Newbigin is widely read and admired in ecumenical and evangelical circles.

The library of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva was renamed the Philip A. Potter Library on Friday in honour of the third general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

By Mark Beach (*)

Interview by Martin Hoegger (*)

By Stephen Brown (*)

By Konrad Raiser (*)

Nearly 140 leaders from the world's churches, North and South Koreans among them, have called for the formation of an inter-Korean confederation even before complete reunification of Korea can take place. Agreement was reached at the close of a three-day meeting in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong where the Christian leaders expressed unrelenting hope for peace and reconciliation among Koreans, despite the stark realities of the ongoing division of the Korean peninsula.

Ecumenical Delegation to Meet With High-Level Officials to Promote Peace and Reconciliation

In a momentary foretaste of Korean reunification, two Korean pastors - one from the north, one from the south - bridged more than 60 years of separation in jointly presiding over a celebration of the Eucharist during a worship service commemorating more than 25 years of work toward bringing peace and reconciliation to the divided Korean peninsula. The “Tozanso Process”, which brings together Christians from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north and the Republic of Korea in the south, as well as representatives of partner churches from other nations, was initiated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 1984.

In a recent meeting with a delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) visiting Pyongyang, North Korean president Kim Yong-nam said a significant impetus to solving the nuclear weapons stand-off in the region would be for North Korea and the U.S. to meet “face-to-face with each other”.

by Theodore Gill (*)

by Juan Michel (*)