Search results

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, in a public statement, urged a permanent cessation of hostilities in Sudan, where people are facing a humanitarian catastrophe following weeks of intense fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

After persistently calling for dialogue to end violent anti-government protests, Kenyan religious leaders are welcoming President William Samoei Ruto and opposition leader Raila Amollo Odinga consultations, during which the two have agreed to tackle critical issues troubling the east African nation.

In a 21 June statement, religious leaders in eastern Africa released a statement on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They reaffirmed their commitment to peace, security and democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the eastern African community at large.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, one of the people who followed in the footsteps of Desmond Tutu as archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa announced the death of “the Arch” as he was affectionately known on 26 December, fittingly celebrated in South Africa as the “Day of Goodwill.”

The World Council of Churches executive committee, in a public statement, expressed grave concern over recurrences of military coups in Myanmar and Sudan.

A 12 July statement from the South African Council of Churches notes with deep concern the violence and destruction of property that is engulfing the nation. “This violence is resulting in untold suffering,” the statement reads.

Church leaders in Sudan are welcoming a peace agreement signed between the transitional government and rebel groups on 3 October, after a year of talks in Juba City, the South Sudanese capital.

In a joint letter to church leaders in Burundi, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches expressed solidarity as the nation prepares for its 20 May elections.

With great sadness, the World Council of Churches (WCC) received news of the demise of Prof. Vuyani Vellem on 4 December. A member of the WCC’s Commission on Ecumenical Education and Formation, Vellem was director of the Centre for Public Theology and associate professor at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He also served as deputy secretary of the South Africa Council of Churches.

The National Council of Churches USA (NCCUSA) will confer its President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership to Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) central committee.

Minister of Human Rights of The Democratic Republic of the Congo Andre Lite Asebea visited WCC headquarters in Geneva on Thursday to discuss the human rights situation in Congo with the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Christian Aid and Christian Solidarity Worldwide are among 30 global agencies demanding urgent international action to halt violence in Sudan, where women have been leading pro-change and democracy protests.

When Sudanese women join the mass protests for change and reforms, demonstrators revere them as Kandakes or Candances – the queens of the ancient African Kingdoms of Kush.

“The people of the Republic of Sudan deserve justice, peace, and democracy” declared Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, as large public demonstrations continue in Khartoum despite a curfew imposed by military authorities.

Following presidential and parliamentary elections conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 30 December 2018, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling for a peaceful democratic transition of power.

World Council of Churches leaders spoke on the theme “Hospitality: On a Pilgrim’s Way of Justice and Peace" at a symposium on 23 August at the Protestant Theological University Amsterdam.

Most South Africans know of Brigalia Bam as chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), where she served from 1999 to 2011. Previously secretary general of the South African Council of Churches, and already an IEC commissioner, she was chosen by then-President Nelson Mandela from the list of parliamentary nominees for this critical role. In a country that had recently been on the brink of racial civil war, she guided South Africans with humour, tolerance and impartiality along the path of inclusive democracy.

“Where is God?” Evoking the desperate cry of a South Sudanese girl stranded in a refugee camp far from home, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom opened the Central Committee’s biennial meeting on 15 June with a stirring yet clear-eyed cry for deeper engagement by the WCC and its member churches to counter the world’s most intractable problems through nurturing hope and empowerment.