Search results

The World Council of Churches (WCC), a global fellowship of 352 churches representing more than half a billion Christians from around the world, has been deeply involved in the work of the United Nations from as early as 1946 through its Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA). The WCC is a platform for common action by churches on issues that negate or threaten the dignity of all people. 

In a joint message on gender-based violence, sexual abuse, and faith communities, 26 World Council of Churches (WCC) Thursdays in Black ambassadors lament that the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence continues unabated—and call on faith communities to prevent such violence in their own spaces.

Opening an online international seminar commemorating the life of  Dr Paulose Mar Gregorios, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri shared thoughts on his ecumenical contributions.

In the kitchen is a half drunk plastic bottle of water - left over from my last train journey. A large internationally-recognized label brands the bottle and adds value (at least for the shareholders in the company) to the humble yet life-essential contents.

World Council of Churches Pastoral letter based on Pilgrim Team Visit to South Africa on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide and Xenophobia

The third reflection of the “Seven Weeks for Water 2019” of World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Water Network is by Grace Ji-Sun Kim, an ordained minister of PC (USA). She received her PhD from the University of Toronto and works as an Associate Professor of Theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is a prolific writer and the author or editor of 16 books including, Making Peace with the Earth. Kim is part of the World Council of Churches working group on climate change. In this reflection, she recollects her early days in Korea and how she looked at the water then and now, as an eco-feminist theologian. She further reflects on the promise of God "I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground…" and contrasts it with today's consumeristic lifestyle, which is polluting our water bodies and denying millions from enjoying this life-giving gift of God – Water!

The final reflection of the Lenten Campaign: Seven Weeks for Water 2017 of the Word Council of Churches’ (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) is by Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri.  Dr Phiri is the deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and responsible for WCC’s work on Public Witness and Diakonia. A Malawian by nationality, Apawo Phiri was a professor of African theology, dean and head of the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, and director of the Centre for Constructive Theology at the University of KwaZulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.  In this reflection she explains the concept of a ‘blue community’ and points out why the bottled water industry is an impediment to the human right to water. She then takes us through the journey of the WCC into becoming a blue community through one of its ecumenical initiatives, the EWN.

This document is a summary and synthesis of policy positions on key issues pertaining to the situation in Palestine and Israel adopted by governing bodies of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1948 to 2016. It addresses major themes in these policy positions, but does not pretend to full comprehensiveness. The document has no official standing itself; for the official authoritative positions, the original policy documents referred to should be consulted directly.

Communiqué: What is the medicine we are carrying with us as the Ecumenical movement embarks on a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace?

Reflection by Kristine Greenaway, of the United Church of Canada, for the WCC Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.

Report of the Consultation on Developing Advocacy Strategies for WCC work on Indigenous Peoples Issues, Church Centre, New York, 21-23 May 2013.

My parish church features a large baptismal font where infants and adults alike are baptized. During Sunday liturgies for most of the year, the soft sounds of flowing water provide a peaceful backdrop during moments of silence and prayer and remind us of our baptism.

Reflections of the theologians and activists representing the Just and Inclusive Communities Working Group – including the five areas Dalit Solidarity, Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM), Ecumenical Disabilities Advocacy Network (EDAN), Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, and Churches Overcoming racism, who met in Toronto, Canada, between 24-29 November 2012 under the theme: On the Way to Busan: Contributions from the Just and Inclusive Communities programme to the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 2013.

An International Theological Symposium was jointly organized by WCC-Just and Inclusive Communities, SCEPTRE, NCCI, Bishop's and Gossner Theological College from 13-16th December, 2011 at SCEPTRE, Shrachi Centre, 74B, A.J.C. Bose Road, Kolkata-16.

Between 6 -9 February 2012 a consultation exploring ‘Christian self understanding in the context of indigenous religions’ was convened at the Evangelical High School of Theological Studies (ISEDET), Buenos Aires, Argentina. The consultation was organised by the World Council of Churches’ Programme for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, working in partnership with CLAI (the Latin American Council of Churches), and with valued assistance from FAIE (the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches in Argentina) and the Anglican Diocese of Argentina. The consultation was one of a series that the WCC has organised in recent years, exploring Christian self understanding in the context of a specific other religion or religious tradition.

This document arises from the North American consultation on poverty, wealth and ecology sponsored by the World Council of Churches and held in Calgary, Alberta from 6 to 11 November 2011. This consultation that included representatives from Christian confessions in Canada and the United States of America along with representatives from other ecumenical organizations and local and global ecumenical partners took place at a time of deep global financial crisis and people’s resistance around the world. It is directed to the World Council of Churches, its member churches and partner organizations and all who share in the ideals and goals of this conference.

A call to churches worldwide to educate people about racism, this declaration was made by church leaders from across the Americas and Caribbean at the end of a conference held 22-24 June 2011 in Managua, Nicaragua.

Letter by non-governmental organizations concerned with the HRC's Action on Climate Change