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Tanzanian dance, vibrant choral performances, and treasured liturgy: the African worship experience in Tanzania has something for everyone searching for meaning. With a spirit of hospitality, the Christ Church Cathedral of Mount Kilimanjaro Diocese in Arusha celebrated mass on 11 March, inviting fellow Christians from around the world who were participating in the WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism.

Jooseop Keum is director of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. He is also editor of the Resource Book for the upcoming WCC Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Arusha, Tanzania on 8-13 March. In this interview, Keum shares his thoughts on the deeper meanings of the conference theme, “Moving in the Spirit: Called to Transforming Discipleship.” He also communicates his hope for contributions, suggestions and criticisms to the new WCC mission statement “Together towards Life”.

On 2 March, Christian women from 170 countries will observe the World Day of Prayer, a tradition that has continued since 1927. The 2018 theme, “All God’s Creation is Very Good!” features materials written by people from Suriname, on the northeastern coast of South America.

Bishop Dr Fredrick O. Shoo is presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). He is also author of a “Welcome” in the Handbook for the upcoming World Council of Churches Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME). Here, Bishop Shoo is featured in an interview that comments on crucial issues in the conference that will require deliberations to lead toward a truly transforming discipleship. The upcoming CWME 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.

After an historic meeting in South Africa in June 2017, study groups within the WCC Faith and Order Commission are using theological reflection as a tool to build unity between churches. The questions Faith and Order considers are not abstract issues but, in many contexts across the world, matters of life and death.

The people of South Sudan are experiencing the most difficult time in their history of suffering and self-destruction, says the South Sudan Council of Churches, reaching out with an Advent and Christmas message of hope.

In east Africa, some good rains in October and November 2017 have created hope for communities recovering from several months of severe drought.

Sierra Leone has been burying hundreds of victims of a mudslide that swept away homes on the edge of the capital Freetown. “Please continue to pray with us”, asked Bishop Arnold Temple, from the Methodist Church Sierra Leone.

As the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) gathered for its 12th Assembly in Windhoek, Namibia from 10-16 May, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit presented greetings on behalf of the World Council of Churches, a worldwide fellowship of 348 member churches which represents more than half a billion Christians around the world.

Almost 800 participants, including 324 delegates, are gathering in Windhoek from 10-16 May for the Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the highest LWF decision-making body that meets every six years. World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will address the plenary on 12 May.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit joined others in congratulating Prof. Jürgen Moltmann for receiving an honorary doctorate of divinity degree on 5 April from the Theological Faculty of Pretoria University, South Africa.

“The pilgrimage of justice and peace is a commitment to being together on the way as churches and ecumenical partners at all levels from the local to the global, a way of accompaniment, listening to each other and solidarity”, said Rev. Dr Martin Robra, World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for Ecumenical Continuing Formation and professor at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

“So much has changed, and yet so much remains the same. Global public health structures have changed, yet gross inequalities still exist – between developed and under-developed countries, between rich and poor, and the vision for equitable health care still lies in the far distance. Primary health care remains a task unfinished.”

Patriarch Abune Matthias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church offered a special greeting at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 10 February, commending the success of global ecumenical work while acknowledging the grave crises tearing the world apart.

A workshop in Mozambique examined the connections between finance on the one hand and food and land on the other. Titled “From the Financialization of Food to Life-giving Agriculture,” the workshop took place in Maputo from 7-11 December. It was organized by the WCC together with Bread for All and was hosted by the Christian Council of Mozambique.

Translate the hope provided by the Paris Agreement into real action to direct the world toward a more just and sustainable future, urged the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 17 November at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco.

We have come a long way but have made little progress, stated Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, in his message to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), referring to 22 years of UN conventions as an unacceptably long period to respond to the environmental crisis.

Delegations from the ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation and WCC at the United Nations climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco are jointly demanding a more rapid transition to a low-carbon economy based on clean energy in order to stem rising global temperatures.