Search results

Representatives of the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined tens of thousands of demonstrators in New York City for the "March to End Fossil Fuels." This powerful protest took place just before the United Nations General Assembly, where world leaders gathered for crucial climate discussions.

Aa the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity opened on 18 January, the World Council of Churches staff and partners gathered in a spirit of unity to “Do good; seek justice,” the theme of this year’s special week.

As the World Council of Churches executive committee was meeting in-person for the first time in two years, they gather at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute for meetings and prayers.

The United Church of Christ, at a 14 June event entitled “UCC at the United Nations: Growing New Connections to Create a Just World for All,” explored how to strengthen global advocacy by journeying with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and other partners.

The United Church of Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gases 80 percent by 2050 and local congregations across the country are already responding, aided by more than $3 million in available grant money from the denomination. 

Religions for Peace is the world's largest and most representative multi-religious coalition, and as in other multi-faith groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its ecumenical family figure strongly in its leadership bodies.

At an informal dialogue, faith leaders gathered with representatives from governments, civil society, academia, and the United Nations to talk about financing adaptation, and loss and damage, related to climate change.

In a daylong meeting on 24 September entitled: “Climate Emergency: Faith-based Organizations Raising Ambition - Leaving No One Behind,” representatives from dozens of churches and organizations from across the world gathered to explore their role in stemming climate change and the human suffering it is already causing.

As states gather at the United Nations for the Climate Action Summit, taking place on 23 September, the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches, which together represent 580 million Christians globally, are strengthening their collective call for climate justice and immediate action.

In a sermon at Marble Church in New York City on 22 September, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit asked an elemental yet profound question: “Do you love me?”

From New York City to Hamburg, from Oslo to Melbourne, from Nairobi to Mumbai, hundreds of thousands of young people peacefully protested climate change on 20 September - and the World Council of Churches (WCC) walked alongside them.

In a historic vote, the general synod of the Anglican Church of Canada bestowed the title of archbishop upon Mark MacDonald, president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for North America.

Before the synod, MacDonald was bishop of the National Indigenous Anglican Church of Canada.

On 28 June, a World Council of Churches (WCC) intergenerational climate justice project was awarded the Keeling Curve Prize, a recognition for initiatives that offer solutions to reduce global warming. The WCC project supports adolescents engaging in climate justice through church-run schools, Sunday schools, and summer camps. The project stems from Churches’ Commitments to Children, a partnership between the WCC and UNICEF.

WCC News spoke to Rev. Douglas Leonard, coordinator of the Ecumenical United Nations Office and World Council of Churches (WCC) representative to the United Nations in New York, after attending a summit in Washington D.C. that brought together some 45 representatives of churches and faith-based organizations committed to developing an advocacy plan that responds to the current political situation in the Holy Land.

“Financing for sustainable development represents the expression of an ethic of solidarity and sharing, including with generations that come after us and who will inherit whatever good or evil we have wrought”, said Peter Prove, director of International Affairs at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a symposium at the United Nations headquarters, in New York, on 29 January.

“We must lift the veil on our beguilement with consumerist culture and materialistic values”, said Bishop Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada and president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for North America, as he addressed a panel promoted by the WCC at the 2018 sessions of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held in Toronto, Canada, 1-7 November.

Speaking at a reception hosted by UNICEF on 22 January, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit offered an ecumenical vision on migration, inclusion and justice.

As tens of thousands of people coped with the aftermath of flooding in South Asia and the USA, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said the WCC fellowship is praying for flood survivors and those helping them.

Climate justice isn't a policy that can simply be thrown away by any president - it’s a moral decision that affects the well-being of millions of people and future generations across the world. Thousands of people are communicating this message via statements, posts and tweets on social media, and even with earnest conversations with their neighbors. Many are from the WCC fellowship, humanitarian groups, churches and communities, and they are bringing a clear - and unified - voice of justice after US President Donald Trump announced on 2 June that his nation would leave the Paris climate accord.