The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) completed its annual meeting from 21-26 November, and also commemorated its 20th anniversary.
For the sake of peace, church leaders in Jerusalem are calling to maintain the historical status quo on the historical designation allowing access to al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyard, as well as other Holy Sites in the city.
The World Council of Churches continues to reiterate complaints about the interrogation and treatment of its staff and professional colleagues at Ben Gurion International Airport on 29 April - 2 May. The WCC hopes both the incidents and ensuing conversations can offer more clarity for future visits by WCC staff and ecumenical colleagues to Israel and Palestine.
After traveling to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in the last week for a climate justice meeting, World Council of Churches staff and partners were detained or deported in a manner that WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit terms both unprecedented and intolerable.
Violence in the name of religion echoed in the distance, demanding a response, through the November 2015 meeting of the 25-member Executive Committee of the WCC in Bogis-Bossey and nearby Geneva, Switzerland as it planned the work of the Council in the coming years.
Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.
Amidst the reality of tensions often fueled by religions, a group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish youth has formed a multi-faith community. As part of an interfaith summer course sponsored by the WCC, this community wants to work for the protection of creation – a concern they say is common to all faith traditions.
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.
In an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit stressed the significance of Christian unity. He also expressed appreciation for Pope Francis’s call to pray for peace in Syria and his call for churches to remember the poor, encouraging Christians to work for economic justice.
