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Rev. Dr Owe Boersma will take over the post of EAPPI international programme coordinator in Geneva, effective 26 September 2016. Mr Manuel Quintero, after eight years of service as EAPPI international programme coordinator based in Geneva, has reached retirement age and will be leaving the World Council of Churches’ EAPPI international office at the end of August.

What does the impending 500th anniversary mean outside its European birthplace? In the Middle East, Reformation stands for a strong legacy yet also the uncertain future of a tiny and splintered minority. The churches of the Reformation remain important within the constellation of Christian groups, say non-evangelical Christians, who call upon them to lead in ecumenical outreach to newer charismatic and Pentecostal groups.

Youth are not the future leaders of tomorrow. They are the leaders of today, as they fearlessly lead efforts for justice and peace in their societies.

Between 7-27 March, more than 100 images with the hash tag #7Weeks4Water were posted by Instagram users who joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) contest. Most of them told stories about water justice, illustrating the Lenten campaign “Seven Weeks for Water,” promoted by the WCC Ecumenical Water Network annually since 2008.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has issued a statement on behalf of the Council hailing the historic meeting of Pope Francis, pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and Patriarch Kirill, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.The two leaders met on 12 February in Havana, Cuba.

Mere days after terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, the theme of an interfaith meeting of Christians and Muslims at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on “Religion, Peace and Violence” was entirely appropriate, said participants.

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was to have been the principal focus of the service of Sunday morning prayer on 15 November in the cathedral church of Saint-Pierre at the summit of Geneva’s old town. Following terror attacks in Beirut and Paris killing and wounding hundreds of civilians over the preceding days, the prayers of the Protestant Church of Geneva and the WCC Executive Committee took on a new dimension.

Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Roman Catholic Church, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has granted an interview to WCC News. The conversation took place at the Global Christian Forum in Tirana, Albania where 150 high level leaders and representatives of various church traditions from more than 60 countries gathered to listen and learn from one another and to stand in solidarity with churches and Christians experiencing discrimination and persecution in the world today.

To achieve just peace in the Middle East, “it is very adequate to focus on what would maintain and reinforce the cultural and religious diversity that has distinguished this region for long centuries,” said the WCC general secretary.

A new initiative titled Ecumenical Institute for the Middle East is “promising and inspiring” in its attempt to train young Christians in ecumenical thought and history, according to Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

The WCC general secretary extended prayers and congratulations to Bishop Angaelos of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom who has been honoured for his services in promoting human rights and religious freedom.

Challenged by Christians from Brazil to strive for greater respect for religious and cultural diversity, churches are reflecting together on the gospel of John as they celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

The spiritual head of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, welcomed members of the WCC Executive Committee at his office in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 25 November.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Members of the WCC's Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network met in the Netherlands to develop a new statement with the working title "Gift of Being: Called to be a Church of All and for All". The new document is founded on the premise that persons with disabilities experience marginalization both in societies and in the church communities themselves.

A recent meeting of representatives from ecumenical organizations, Catholic, Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Strasbourg, France has promised to address more effectively discrimination, persecution and violence faced by Christians around the world. This theme will be explored in depth through an international consultation to be held in 2015.

Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt visited the WCC offices in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday 1 September. In the presence of representatives from ecumenical and international organizations, Tawadros participated in morning prayers followed by a meeting with staff and a conversation with the WCC general secretary.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

An urgent call for protection of human rights, peace and security in the Middle East and South Sudan was recently issued by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA at its first Christian Unity Gathering from 18 to 20 May in Washington, D.C.

The weekend meeting of Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople holds significance for global churches and the ecumenical movement beyond the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.