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A round table on the meaning of prayer for unity in situations of conflict and distress and an ecumenical celebration gathering Genevan churches marked the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on Sunday, 20 January.

[Joint release with the Association of Churches and Christian Communities of Geneva.]

By Kersten Storch (*)

Rev. Canon Dr John Saint Helier Gibaut, from the Anglican Church of Canada, will head the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order as of January 2008.

Two outstanding personalities, known to the ecumenical family for their achievements in faith-based advocacy and interfaith dialogue, have been engaged by the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) to complete its leadership team. The newly appointed staff members will head the programme on Public witness and the programme on Inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. The appointments complete a reconfiguration of the WCC staff leadership due to programmatic reshaping after the WCC 9th Assembly in 2006 .

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is ready to join the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican in supporting a code of conduct to guide activities seeking converts to Christianity.

By Juan Michel (*)

Churches throughout the world are preparing for next year's Week of prayer for Christian unity which will mark the 100th anniversary of the event. Worship resources in four languages have already been put at their disposal on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Issues facing the ecumenical movement today were described as examples of 'challenges posed by success' in a speech by the Rev. Dr Sarah Lancaster to the 19-23 July conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Faith and Order commission of the NCC USA. Lancaster is a member of the Standing Commission on Fath and Order of the World Council of Churches.

A long-time member of the WCC's Faith and Order Commission and one of the most renowned women theologians in the world, Rev. Dr Letty Russell, 77, died Thursday, 12 July, at her home in Guilford, Conn., USA.

The Faith and Order standing commission has called for a meeting of the plenary commission to take place in October 2009. The plenary commission - noted as the most diverse church-based theological forum in the world - will bring a wealth of confessional and regional perspectives to Faith and Order's work for the unity of the church. The call for a full commission meeting was voiced as the standing commission met at the Villa Notre Dame, Crans-Montana, Switzerland, from 12 - 18 June 2007 under the leadership of its moderator, Metropolitan Vassilios of Constantia.

Perseverance, a cardinal virtue that enabled them to survive decades of Soviet domination, is "no longer enough" for Estonian churches confronting "a newly materialistic and in many ways a 'post-Christian' culture". This view of the current context and challenges to the country's churches was shared by World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia with Estonian church leaders in the country's capital, Tallin, on Friday 1 June.