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With the topics of the war in Ukraine and climate protection as the focal points, the 38th German Protestant Kirchentag takes place in Nuremberg, Germany from 7 to 11 June. The World Council of Churches’ presence in the Kirchentag’s exhibition space “Market of Opportunities” (hall 9, stand 9-C32) enables lively encounters and an opportunity to learn more about the ecumenical movement.

Opening to the sounds of nature reverberating through the speaker system, World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly delegates took part in the first thematic plenary, “The purpose of God’s love in Christ for the whole of creation – reconciliation and unity," on 1 September, the first day of Season of Creation.

Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) shared insights and resources related to children’s rights at an “Open Reli” event coordinated by the Pedagogical Institute of the Protestant Church in Baden on 24 March.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee closed its meeting after convening from 12-17 November, leaving with a sense of hope, even while publicly expressing grave concern over many global injustices facing the world today.

The 5th Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Climate Justice from Poland to Glasgow crossed the English Channel from IJmuiden in the Netherlands to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England on 11 October. They were given a warm welcome on site. 

The World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) was featured in the DW Global Media Forum held 27-28 May in Bonn, Germany. More than 2,000 media professionals, policymakers, and movers from politics and civil society, culture and education, business and science – representing 140 countries – attended the conference.

Many ecumenical pioneers, including former WCC general secretary Philip Potter, were in a sense a product of the Sunday School movement. Ulrich Becker tells a story that seems to be in danger of being forgotten.

The WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2016 has gone to the documentary film Cahier africain directed by Heidi Specogna, who was recognized at an awards ceremony on 19 February in Berlin.

“The world is calling upon the faith leaders to use their power for justice for the excluded and discriminated against, and for the exploited planet earth,” says WCC deputy general secretary Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri.

In a theological exploration of what an ecological reformation might mean in today’s context, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 14 June at the Ev. Akademie Hofgeismar in Germany.

Baden-Württemberg minister-president, Winfried Kretschmann, has expressed gratitude to the churches for putting Christian service and neighbourly love into practice, and not only at Sunday sermons. The German state’s governor Kretschmann gave his message in a meeting with the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, in Stuttgart last Thursday.

A plenary discussion on support by religious communities for the rights of children, and a first draft of the statement of “principles for child-friendly churches,” captured the imagination of the Central Committee of the WCC on 27 June. The document will now undergo further revision and be resubmitted at the next WCC executive committee meeting.

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 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.

Three renowned conductors give a rare classical concert for a refugee audience and volunteer aid workers. The Berlin International Film Festival — the world’s biggest film festival — gives its top prize, the Golden Bear, to a documentary about refugees.

While attending the Berlin International Film Festival, Afghan filmmaker Ghafar Faizyar shared his story about coming to Berlin in 2014 — and not returning to his homeland. This is not his first exile. His family fled the Taliban-rule in the nineties and he grew up in Iran.