Displaying 1 - 20 of 439
Sort by relevance Sort by date
Publication
Green book cover with image of people singing at the 11th WCC Assembly

Towards a Global Vision of the Church, Volume II

Explorations on Global Christianity and Ecclesiology, Faith and Order Paper 239

This is the second of the two-volume set Towards a Global Vision of the Church, which forms part of the work done by the ecclesiology study group of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order between 2015 and 2022 to broadening the table of ecclesiological dialogue by going into more and wider conversations with ecclesiological perspectives from various regions (especially Asia, Africa, and Latin America), denominational families (such as Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, and independent churches), and forms of being church (such as ecclesial movements, new forms of monasticism, and online churches), “which have not always been clearly or strongly part of discussions on the way to TCTCV, and whose understandings of ecclesiology we want to discover and to enter into dialogue with.”

The first volume in this set included 24 chapters written from the perspectives of theologians from the global South. In this second volume, nearly all of the chapters have come from commissioners who have worked on ecclesiological issues during this past term.

27 November 2023
News
Sylvia Ross Talbot

"Legend of Our Times," Sylvia Ross Talbot, dies at 89

The life and ministry of Dr. Sylvia Ross Talbot, a church leader whose ecumenical dedication included service as the WCC’s vice-moderator in the 1980s and president of Church Women United, was celebrated last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

She died 15 May at the age of 89.

18 July 2023
News
cup of water

"Faith Community is a Blue Community” unfolds alongside UN Water Conference

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network and its partner organizations hosted a hybrid side event, “Faith Community is a ‘Blue Community,” on 22 March in conjunction with the UN Water Conference in New York City.Prof. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur, human right to water, opened the event with a video message on how this is the first time in almost 50 years that the United Nations has convened a global event to reflect on the global water crisis—a crisis that finds 2 billion people without access to clean water, and 4 billion without access to adequate sanitation.

23 March 2023
Bible studies
placeholder image

Seven Weeks for Water 2023, week 1: "The rainbow color of the pilgrimage of water justice in North America", by Michele Roberts

Originally published in 2021, the 1st reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2023 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Michele Roberts*, from the Environmental Justice Health Alliance. In this reflection, the author, based on several instances of large scale water contamination in many cities in the USA, comes to a conclusion that lack of access to clean water in USA is a result of systemic racism.

22 February 2023
Feature story
Germany-2022-Hillert-20220828_AH2_9777.jpg

Water as a divine gift, and justice issue

The importance of water for Christians around the world cannot be overemphasized.  From Genesis 1:1, where we read that “a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” to its sacramental role in baptism and the Eucharist, water is integral to the faith.

08 September 2022
Feature story
Morning prayer at the World Council of Churches' 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe

God’s Creation is celebrated in a gathering of waters

Recalling believers’ mandate to act as stewards and beneficiaries of God’s creation, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly gathered in morning prayer on the first day of September, the Orthodox Day of Prayer for Creation and the start of an ecumenically observed Season of Creation. At the heart of the liturgical action was a combining of vessels of water from each inhabited region of the earth, a “gathering of the waters” reflecting the earliest act of creation in Genesis 1:9.

01 September 2022
Interview
Relics sit on the altar, as Sunday service is celebrated in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint George, Church of Cyprus, in Paralimni. The service is attended by participants in an Inter-Orthodox Pre-Assembly Consultation to the World Council of Churches’ 11th Assembly that brings together more than 50 delegates representing 20 Eastern and Oriental Orthodox member churches, in Cyprus on 9-16 May 2022.

Reflections on “What Are the Churches Saying About the Church” share fruits of WCC Commission on Faith and Order

Below, Rev. Dr Susan Durber, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order and His Eminence Bishop Maxim, from the Serbian Orthodox Church and a WCC Faith and Order commissioner, reflect on the publication “What Are the Churches Saying About the Church?”

The publication, which presents key findings and proposals from responses to “The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” is among the many fruits being harvested by the study groups of the WCC Faith and Order Commission for the WCC 11th Assembly.

19 May 2022
Publication
Common Threads Cover - image of hands weaving

Common Threads

Key Themes from Responses to The Church: Towards a Common Vision. Faith and Order Paper No 233

Churches now agree more than they disagree on many characteristics of the Church and its faith, mission, and life: the responses to the convergence statement The Church: Towards a Common Vision make this clear. Within this growth in agreement, key themes come to the fore, calling for greater understanding, study, and common conversation: visible unity, communion, mission, the role of the people of God in ministry and decision-making, sin and the church, and more. 
This volume presents essays on sixteen of these key themes. Each essay was written by a member of the subgroup of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order that focused on reading and analyzing the responses. The essays were then discussed by the group and revised in light of the discussions. Some of the themes have been prominent since the 1982 convergence statement Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry. Others have emerged more recently. 

Together with the report What are the Churches Saying about the Church?, the essays illuminate the many ways in which the vision of unity has inspired and changed the churches, as well as critical areas where future work is needed.

25 February 2022