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During an ecumenical prayer, people of many faiths gathered during COP27 to confess, lament, and express hope for the future. 

In a bridge-building visit to member churches in Lebanon, a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visited Beirut on 7 July, meeting with church leaders as well as the Middle East Council of Churches to hear and carry a message for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly, to be held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August-8 September.

In a public statement focused on the Holy Land, the WCC central committee expressed “deep solidarity with the member churches and Christians of the region in their life and work, keeping the Christian faith and witness in the Holy Land alive and vibrant, as well as with all people in the region.”

The Taize Community, churches of the Holy Land, and the Tantur Ecumenical Institute are hosting a “Pilgrimage of Trust to the Holy Land” from 8-15 under the theme “Journeying Together to Sources of Hope.”

Local host and head of the Church of Cyprus, Archbishop Chrysostomos II, welcomed members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Inter-Orthodox Pre-Assembly at his residence in Nicosia, Cyprus, on 12 May, the Feast of Saint Epiphanius. The meeting acknowledged contributions from the Church of Cyprus to the ecumenical movement, as well as the aspiration of churches to see a united island, partitioned as result of the Turkish invasion in 1974.

Orthodox churches convened in Cyprus this week to prepare for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, as well as to pray and reflect together on how to keep dialogue open amid the world’s grave challenges.

Church leaders in Iran warmly welcomed WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca and the WCC delegation: Prof. Dr Simone Sinn, dean of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute and Dr Abraham Silo Wilar, programme executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, during their visit to the country in the first week of March. Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Diocese of Teheran, met them at the premises of the Saint Sarkis Cathedral in Tehran with members of his church.

An interfaith consultation held 12-16 December in Beirut, Lebanon, offered the chance for participants from different traditions to share their vision for social and religious cohesion in Iraq, assessing the current context and envisioning the way forward.

Am 27. Oktober trafen sich Leitende des Ökumenischen Rates der Kirchen (ÖRK) und des Zentrums für interreligiösen und interkulturellen Dialog der Organisation für islamische Kultur und Beziehungen in Teheran online zur Unterzeichnung einer Urkunde zur Feier des 25-jährigen konstruktiven Dialogs.

Signing a celebratory certificate commemorating 25 years of fruitful dialogue, leaders from the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization in Tehran met online on 27 October.

Providing migrants and refugees a platform to share their concerns, challenges, and aspirations not only helps them, but also addresses xenophobia and helps build bridges with host communities, participants at a recent conference found.

It has been 46 years since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus led to the partitioning of the island, the northern third inhabited by Turkish Cypriots and the southern two-thirds by Greek Cypriots, whose government is internationally recognized. The August 1974 ceasefire line became a United Nations buffer zone, along which Cyprus remains divided.