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As a search continued for missing migrants after a fishing boat capsized off the coast of Greece, the World Council of Churches (WCC) conveyed prayers to the families of victims, and to the churches in Greece and elsewhere that are responding.

Christian organizations representing 2 billion people—about one-third of the world's population—have released a statement on the dire situation of migrants and refugees in Europe, and they are demanding a more compassionate approach.

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece offers reflections from an Orthodox perspective on the current plight of refugees, both in Greece and beyond, and how churches can help with both relief efforts and long-term wellbeing.

Monday 28 January was a very special day for 25-year-old student Kezia Wairata from Jakarta, Indonesia. Along with 30 dedicated peers she received her diploma in advanced studies of ecumenism at the WCC Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

Protecting children from any kind of violence has always been and should remain an essential message of Christianity, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has told a gathering at the World Council of Churches (WCC) for World Children’s Day.

The voices of young people will ring through the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 21 November as part of global celebrations for World Children’s Day linked to other events involving the World Council of Churches (WCC) in different places.

An ecumenical conference in Thessaloniki, Greece held 20-22 February explored the political, religious and spiritual dimensions of the economic and refugee crisis.

Georges “Yorgo” Lemopoulos says his discovery of global ecumenism as a theology student in Istanbul, Turkey, transformed his life. The member of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople credits theology professors who were active in ecumenical work with awakening his interest in the global church movement.

Sitting in a tent at the Souda camp, on the island of Chios in Greece, a Pakistani family of 12 recalls the lives they had in their home country. They had everything except safety. Muhammed and his wife, Asia, along with their 10 children, fled their home country in search of a place where they weren’t constantly fearing for their lives.

Women and children figure prominently as refugees in mass movements of people in recent months and their rights will be at the forefront of a summer school organized in Greece by the Conference of European Churches.

The Evangelical Church of Greece has been helping immigrants for more than 20 years, but has grown its effort to unprecedented levels in the past few years, months and even every day.

The heads of two German Protestant churches and the moderator of the country’s Reformed Alliance say the situation for refugees on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is intolerable and more European aid is needed.

Greece’s people are exhausted from years of economic crisis and the Orthodox church head there is pleading with the European Union to reconsider its decision to limit the refugees it is accepting.

“We should be learning from our mistakes, and exposing the systems that are not performing well,” says Pauliina Parhiala, director and chief operating officer of the ACT Alliance, a coalition of 137 churches and faith-based organizations serving internationally in humanitarian, advocacy and development work.

Participants in a recent conference on the refugee crisis in Europe, hosted by the WCC, said they felt energized by the reports from a multitude of activities undertaken by churches from Lebanon to Finland through Serbia, Greece and Germany.

“The way we handle the refugee crisis, not least the settling in and integration process, will be of utmost significance, both for the attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in the future, and for the long-term stability and sustainability of our own societies”, said Knut Vollebaek, ambassador and former Norwegian foreign minister, in his speech at the recent WCC/UN conference on Europe’s refugee crisis.

The recent and ongoing flood of migrants and refugees in transit to Europe is testing not only Europe’s physical borders but its legal, security and diplomatic boundaries as well.

While news headlines continue to document tragedies on land and sea as desperate people flee violence and abject poverty in their homelands, representatives of governments, UN agencies and civil society organizations, including churches and faith-based organizations, met 18-19 January at a high-level conference on the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland.

“Once, the Mediterranean Sea was called ‘the lake of peace’,” said Dr Tarek Mitri of Lebanon at a recent conference promoting a coordinated response to massive migration in Europe. "Today, we find it is a lake of tears, fears and dangers.”

Following the WCC/UN High Level Conference on the Refugee Crisis in Europe, which took place at the Ecumenical Centre Geneva on 18-19 January, a statement has been issued entitled "Europe’s Response to the Refuge Crisis, From Origin to Transit, Reception and Refuge, A Call for Shared Responsibility and Coordinated Action”.