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Christians in Africa have joined in ecumenical celebrations and prayer services to mark the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed worldwide from 18-25 January.

The latest issue of the International Review of Mission, the biannual journal of the WCC contains a selection of articles which were on the one hand given as key lectures at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha from 8-13 March 2018 and on the other hand articles from Missiologists from all over the world, including Catholic, Pentecostal, Protestant and Orthodox voices, asking about “Mission quo vadis after Arusha?”.

WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom was awarded the Plaque of Saint Eric by Church of Sweden primate Archbishop Antje Jackelén on 3 November.

Maryland-based, Ghanaian-born Rev. Dr Casely Essamuah was in February selected as secretary of the Global Christian Forum. Originally ordained in the Methodist Church in Ghana, he began his work officially in July. This week he made a study visit to the WCC and the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva and the WCC was able to converse with him.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Christian Churches, one of Christianity’s oldest and has been in Africa since 330 AD, so there was joy and celebrations when on 27 July it declared an end to a 27-year-old schism that had torn it apart.

A document published in Swahili language titled, ‘The Church: Towards a common vision’ was launched at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha, Tanzania on 12 March. The document is now translated into 15 languages.

Metropolitan Dr Geevarghese Mor Coorilos is moderator of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. He is also author of a “Welcome” in the Handbook for the upcoming WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism. Below, Metropolitan Coorilos is featured in an interview that reflects on how we can prepare our ecumenical heart for the upcoming conference, which will occur in Arusha, Tanzania on 8-13 March.

It’s 70 years since the World Council of Churches was founded in Amsterdam on 23 August. In addition to a commemoration service in Amsterdam on 23 August, the WCC, its member churches and partners are planning a variety of events to move forward on our ongoing Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, and at the same time honour and learn from these 70 years of ecumenical endeavour. Dr Abuom, from the Anglican Church of Kenya, is the moderator of the WCC Central Committee. She is the first woman and the first African in the position in WCC’s history. In an interview, she reflects on the evolution of the WCC in the past 70 years.

Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world says Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi, Professor of Ecumenical Biblical Hermeneutics at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey. He was the convener of a discussion on the Anthology of African Christianity held by the WCC on 15 February with a panel of experts at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Blantyre Synod is the component part of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) for the southern region of Malawi. The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed the Blantyre Synod to the ecumenical fellowship in July at the WCC Central Committee meeting. Rev. Alex Benson Maulana, general secretary of the Blantyre Synod, spoke to WCC news about why the synod has joined WCC.

The next World Mission Conference is to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, 8-13 March 2018. The proposal to hold the conference was approved by the WCC Central Committee.

The world has changed since 1958. In that year members of the International Missionary Council met in Achimota, Ghana and proposed to move their operation into the WCC, then one decade old.