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Churches can make a huge difference in children’s lives and therefore improve the whole community, strongly believes Frederique Seidel, World Council of Churches (WCC) special advisor on children’s rights. To help the churches in their efforts in improving the wellbeing of children, WCC has published this year the invitation and resource for churches, “Churches’ Commitments to Children”.

As Rev. Pauline Wanjiru Njiru preached on 18 June at the Malawi United Methodist Church in Blantyre, she acknowledged that parenting adolescents is not an easy task.

In a moving worship service on 8 July in Bethanienkirche, Leipzig, Germany, a pastor from North Korea Rev. Kang Myong-chol, Chair of the Korean Christians Federation and a pastor from South Korea Rev. Kim Young-ju, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Korea presided over Holy Communion together, closing a meeting that underscored the need for urgent ecumenical responses to the dangerously escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula.

As part of a Call to Action issued just before an annual meeting of the leaders of the world’s largest economies, the WCC, ACT Alliance and All Africa Conference of Churches urged G20 leaders to take action to overcome hunger and sustain justice and peace in the Horn of Africa.

As a student back in the seventies, it took a while for Rifat Kassis to come to terms with being both a good Christian, and a Palestinian living under occupation. His call to become a reverend in the Lutheran Church in Palestine brought him to Germany to study theology 40 years ago.

Marching through the streets of Nairobi on the Day of the African Child 2017, religious leaders from a range of faith communities in Kenya spoke up publicly for the rights of children and adolescents living with HIV, accompanied by hundreds of people, among them school children from six Nairobi-based schools, as well as dozens of youth volunteers.

More than 600 people are scheduled to gather in Nairobi, Kenya on 16 June, the Day of the African Child, with the goal of speaking out for ending the AIDS epidemic among children, adolescents and young women by 2020.

Expressing its deep disappointment at US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement the WCC has urged renewed commitment by churches and praised local communities and governments for their reaffirmation of climate commitments.

Climate justice isn't a policy that can simply be thrown away by any president - it’s a moral decision that affects the well-being of millions of people and future generations across the world. Thousands of people are communicating this message via statements, posts and tweets on social media, and even with earnest conversations with their neighbors. Many are from the WCC fellowship, humanitarian groups, churches and communities, and they are bringing a clear - and unified - voice of justice after US President Donald Trump announced on 2 June that his nation would leave the Paris climate accord.

On 21 May - the Global Day of Prayer to End Famine - millions of people from faith communities, organizations and neighborhoods across the world prayed, tweeted, posted and talked face-to-face about the urgent action needed to aid 20 million people facing famine in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Nigeria.

Not nearly enough is being done to save the lives of the 20 million people who face famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria. Among them are 1.4 million children, who are at imminent risk of death unless aid reaches them immediately.

The Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, delivered a public address at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 24 April as part of his official visit to Switzerland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his enthronement as Ecumenical Patriarch and the 50th anniversary of the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy.

In the West African countries of Togo and Benin, adolescents and young people are confronted by various obstacles in accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Organized by the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy West Africa regional office in Lomé, Togo, a workshop for 25 adolescents and young people from Benin and Togo helped participants make safe, responsible choices that prevent HIV infection.

All forms of human enslavement are the most heinous of sins, violating the free will and the integrity of every human being created in the image of God, stated the Forum on Modern Slavery, co-organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of England in Istanbul from February 6-7, 2017.

During the visit to Iraq on 20-24 January, a delegation of church leaders shared the findings and recommendations of a recent study exploring the specific needs of displaced people in Iraq and Syria. The delegation also learned a lot about the current situation and challenges from representatives of local faith communities in Iraq, heads of the country’s Christian churches and Christian young people.

While participating in the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland from 17-20 January, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit urged the world’s leaders to be accountable to humanity for the sake of justice and peace for all.

He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.

After gathering in Nigeria from 27-29 November, representatives from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network released a statement entitled “A Pilgrimage of Water Justice in Africa.”

On 17-23 November, the Executive Committee of the WCC met for the first time ever in China. The visit was hosted by the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement is a Protestant church in the People's Republic of China, as well as one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world.