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Dr Katharina Kunter came upon the World Council of Churches (WCC) as an object of research through the discipline of Cold War studies, analyzing the encounter of Christian bodies in East and West from the end of the second world war to the fall of the Berlin Wall. She soon came to realize that the interplay of “northern” churches with the global South was equally influential in transforming attitudes and practices of the WCC and its member churches during those decades.

A week-long inter-Orthodox consultation with the aim of studying the Faith and Order document “The Nature and Mission of the Church” began its work on Thursday 3 March in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The aim of the consultation is to offer distinctly Orthodox insights as part of a world-wide discussion of the doctrine of the Church, or “ecclesiology”. The gathering is hosted by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

The WCC Commission on Faith and Order is preparing to put into writing reflections on how the churches could keep unity despite diverging positions on moral issues.

By Theodore Gill*

“God of life, lead us to justice and peace” will provide the theme for the 10th Assembly of the WCC.

African religious leaders praised ecumenical bodies last Friday – particularly the World Council of Churches (WCC) – for helping create "the miracle" of southern Sudanese independence.

The image of Madagascar was deeply tarnished by the political crisis of 2009. For their part, the churches there have a role in helping to maintain the peace.

As the World Council of Churches (WCC) takes new steps to promote Christian unity and inter-religious harmony, will the challenges of organizational governance and re-structuring drain “the life out of the ecumenical movement”?

Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, moderator of the World Council of Churches Central Committee, argued forcefully today that unity as well as justice and peace should be included in the theme for the next assembly of the world’s largest ecumenical body.

“There is no theological reflection that does not take place in God’s vulnerable world and in the midst of the joy and suffering of ordinary people,” said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his report to the first meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee that he has addressed as general secretary.

Shortly after the beginning of each year, Christians around the world pray for church unity. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionally celebrated from 18-25 January, draws on resources sponsored jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church. The materials for January 2011 have been prepared in partnership with the churches of Jerusalem.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, made his first formal visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams on Friday 14 January 2011. Tveit led a delegation from the WCC to a meeting with the archbishop and other senior leaders of the Church of England at Church House, Westminster, London, the administrative headquarters of the Church of England.

Thirty representatives of Orthodox institutions gathered in mid-November 2010 at the Andrei Saguna theological faculty in Sibiu, Romania to reflect on the topic “The Ecumenical Movement in Theological Education and the Life of Orthodox Churches”. This discussion was moderated by Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople).

Unity among Chinese Protestants is an important factor in the rapid growth of the church in China, the general secretary of the China Christian Council, the Rev. Kan Baoping, said during a visit to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, met in a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Saturday for nearly a quarter of an hour. The two church leaders discussed a number issues including visible church unity and the situation of Christians in the Middle East. "We had a very open and friendly conversation," Tveit said after the audience. "He emphasized in a very kind and also a very strong way the importance of the World Council of Churches' work and the ministry I am called to do as general secretary."

Pope Benedict XVI will welcome the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches since January of this year, to a private audience at the Vatican on Saturday 4 December.

By Tara Tautari *

With migrants tallying some 250 million of the world’s population, churches need to help defuse public hostility towards them. That is what participants agreed at an international consultation on the mission and ecclesiology of migrant churches, jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, the WCC programme on Just and Inclusive Communities, and the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism together with the Ecumenical Network on Multicultural Ministry and Mission.

Jointly issued by WCC and WCRC

Church representatives gathered in News Orleans were reminded of their calling "to bring the churches to the same table where we can share as many of God’s gifts as possible, and to prepare for the visible unity of the Lord’s table" by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on Thursday, 11 November.