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Change is in the air as churches in many parts of the world hold a "World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel" that began on 4 June 2009. New voices are advocating steps toward peace that churches have been promoting for years.

Australia is focusing on Gaza, Austria has town pilgrimages. Brazil has seminary students debating conflict over "holy" land. Canadians, Scots, Norwegians, British and French are making contact with lawmakers. Directors of church-related aid agencies are visiting Israeli and Palestinian partner organizations. And on the high Wall that hems in Bethlehem, Palestinians are "showing" prayers at night.

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is ready to join the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican in supporting a code of conduct to guide activities seeking converts to Christianity.

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By Ondrej Prostrednik (*)

By Olivier Schopfer (*)

This document "will become a major ecumenical instrument for the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer" for the unity of Christian believers, stated Metropolitan Dr Gennadios of Sassima from the Ecumenical Patriarchate today, as he introduced the study "The nature and mission of the church" to the World Council of Churches (WCC) plenary commission on Faith and Order.

Baldwin Sjollema, first director of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Programme to Combat Racism (PCR), received the Oliver Tambo Order from South African president Thabo Mbeki on 16 June 2004 in Pretoria.

In this issue:

Cf. WCC Press Release, PR-03-08 of 3 February 2003

Forging a common and consistent response by churches to the threat of military action in Iraq is the goal of an urgent one-day meeting by European church leaders scheduled for Wednesday, 5 February, in Berlin. The meeting is convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC), following an initiative by the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD), and in consultation with the Conference of European Churches (CEC).