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Swedish churches prepare for commemoration of “Life and Work” and Nicaea

A group of church leaders from Sweden met with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to prepare for the year 2025, with a focus on commemorating 100 years since the beginning of the Life and Work movement as well as the commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where bishops representing the whole of Christendom gathered together for the first time to discuss the faith and witness of the church.

WCC extends prayers for lasting peace in Haiti

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay sent a pastoral letter to Haitian brothers and sisters whose lives are lived in a land with hatred, violence, and suffering. Although we might be physically distant, we are close to you in heart, in the spiritual sense,” wrote Pillay. We all are children of God. We belong to one family, as Jesus Christ himself said.”

Rev. Sally Azar: Thursdays in Black “is universally bringing people together”

Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Sally Azar is a pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and currently serves as a pastor in Jerusalem for both Arabic and English-speaking congregations. 

Words of steadfastness ring from the rubble

We won’t leave Gaza as long as there is a standing church.” 

We will not be the last Christians living in Gaza.” “

We lost everything, but we can’t lose our mission and our belonging to this place dear to our hearts.”

Christianity started here and will continue to be here.”  

These are the words people are uttering as Nader Abu Amsha, executive director of Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches (DSPR-MECC), tries to help them simply survive the next day. 

Three WCC commissions meet to confront emerging global challenges

Three World Council of Churches (WCC) commissions—the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Commission on Health and Healing, and Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development—are jointly meeting from 5-8 March in Geneva to explore the theme "Faith and Effective Witness and Diakonia in the 21st Century.”

In USA, pilgrims trek for 200+ kilometers calling for ceasefire in Palestine

Sometimes the pilgrims were a couple dozen people walking on the shoulder of a nondescript rural highway in freezing temperatures. Other times their ranks swelled into the hundreds, as they rallied in US cities including Philadelphia, Baltimore, and, finally, Washington, D.C., where, on 21 February, they urged President Biden to call for an end to the war in Palestine.