As the World Council of Churches celebrates its 75th anniversary, a series of feature stories from different regions of the world will portray ecumenism at the local level—within churches, communities, and individuals who embody the spirit of ecumenism in unique ways. The feature story below offers a glimpse of some facets of ecumenism present in the Philippines.
World Council of Churches (WCC) programme director for Public Witness and Diakonia Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata delved into the heart of “Theology of Work” in a keynote address during the opening of the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) Consultation on Labour, being hosted 21-23 August by the National Council of Churches in Malaysia.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), in partnership with the Association of Theological Institutes and Faculties in the Middle East (ATIME) and the Middle East Council of Churches, held the first-ever Regional Ecumenical Theological Institute in Cairo under the theme “Respect for Creation is the Glorification of the Creator.”
As the death toll continued to rise in the wake of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii (USA), the World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed grief and solidarity with the island’s churches and communities.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay congratulated Rev. Terri Hord Owens on re-election as the general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Speaking on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at a “Churches Together South Australia” event on 13 August, WCC director of international affairs Peter Prove offered an address on “Imagining a Safer World.”
Renowned Asian ecumenical theologian, former general secretary of the Council for World Mission (CWM) and former associate general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), Dr Preman Niles, passed away in London on 3 August. He was 87 years old.
In a letter to the China Christian Council, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Plllay expressed deep sympathy and concern for churches and people in China in the wake of Typhoon Doksuri.
In pastoral letters to His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, His Beatitude Hieronymos II, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, and the Evangelical Church of Greece, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay conveyed sincere sympathies as wildfires raged across the land.
The annual interreligious summer course opened in the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25 July, ushering seven students from six different countries into an exploration of the theme “Health and Wholeness of Life in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.”
The life and ministry of Dr. Sylvia Ross Talbot, a church leader whose ecumenical dedication included service as the WCC’s vice-moderator in the 1980s and president of Church Women United, was celebrated last weekend in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Elaine Dykes, World Council of Churches (WCC) director of Finance; and Rev. Dr Kuzipa Nalwamba, WCC programme director for Unity, Mission, and Ecumenical Formation represented the WCC at a celebration of the construction sites for the buildings dubbed Kyoto and Montreal in Green Village.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Ecumenical and Francophone Society on the Theology of Ecology cohosted a hybrid seminar from 5-7 July at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva.
With reflections entitled “The Kingdom of God and World Formation – the Ecumenical Movement,” World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay addressed a symposium at the Tutzing Castle in Germany.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is planning a year of activities in 2025 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325, a key moment in the history of Christian faith and for the ecumenical journey today.
Children who gathered prior and during the New Global Financial Pact, held 22-23 June in Paris, delivered a clear message to President Macron and world leaders: the existing colonial economic model must be replaced with one that prioritizes humanity over profits.
Seeking to join efforts with those committed to ensure a just and sustainable future for the continent, representatives from World Council of Churches (WCC) member churches in Latin America gathered at the WCC central committee in June to identify common concerns.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, in its business proceedings, appointed 17 youth advisors; elected leaders for its commissions; and revised bylaws for the new WCC Commission on Climate Change and Sustainable Development.