Churches and Christian communities worldwide are invited to use the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 resources to pray together for the unity among churches throughout the year.
Speaking before religious leaders, pastors, and students in Indonesia, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay reflected on “The Kingdom of God and the Role of the Pastor Today.”
In an annual audience during the ongoing Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Bishop Bo-Göran Åstrand of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland gifted a pair of gloves to Pope Francis, described as “a modest gift, to warm the Pope’s hands in an otherwise cold world.”
Members of Geneva’s churches gathered in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, where the World Council of Churches has its offices, for prayers and hymns to mark the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed in the northern hemisphere from 18 to 25 January each year.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay offered a lecture at University of Havana in Cuba on 19 December entitled “Christians, cry out for peace! The perils and promise of peace today.”
At the World Assembly 2023 of the United Bible Societies in October 2023, the secretary general of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Jerry Pillay, and Rev. Dirk Gevers, secretary general of the United Bible Societies, celebrated the long history of cooperation between the organizations.
Who could have been the author of a paper on the relation of prayer to Christian unity published by the movement for a world conference on Faith and Order in its early years?
An ecumenical team from Burkina Faso facilitated by the local Chemin Neuf Community has been the convener for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 drafting group. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican have now published the material in several languages.
Rev. Matthew Ross, who served as WCC programme executive for Diakonia and Capacity Building from 2018-2023, reflects on how the document “Called to Transformation – Ecumenical Diakonia,” which he edited, is being received in ways that affirm the importance of diaconal service and mission.
As churches in the southern hemisphere closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 28 May, they brought final reflections to this year’s theme of “Do good; seek justice (Isaiah 1:17).”
Churches in the southern hemisphere will observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 21-28 May, the week between Ascension and Pentecost. This year’s theme is “Do good; seek justice (Isaiah 1:17).”
Pastor Joachim Leberecht, from Herzogenrath/Germany, has won the international Menno Simons Sermon Award from the Center for Peace Church Theology (University of Hamburg) together with the Mennonite congregation Hamburg-Altona.
Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.
A delegation from the World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance is visiting Türkiye this week, expressing solidarity and support for churches on the ground responding to grave needs in the wake of the 6 February earthquake.
Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus began to teach at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in 2004 and joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) in 2007. Most recently he served as WCC interim deputy general secretary and Faith and Order director. Below, he reflects on his fondest memories, accomplishments, and hopes.
On the occasion of the upcoming World Interfaith Harmony Week 2023, which is observed annually from 1-7 February at the United Nations, my thought goes to the urgent call for biodiversity protection from the COP15 held in Montreal, from 7-19 December 2022.
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.
Rev. Dr Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-chief executive officer of the Minnesota Council of Churches, helped convene the team of authors for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity materials. Below, he reflects on the challenges and hopes the team brought to the table as they composed the text.
