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“The Pacific Conference of Churches welcomes you on board our ecumenical canoe, as we sail and voyage together beyond the fringing reefs and rocks of the many issues that affect us here in the Pacific and globally, and set sail with our eyes firmly fixed on the island of hope,” said Rev. Dr James Bhagwan, Pacific Conference of Churches general secretary as he welcomed participants of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Fiji, on 20 January.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) continues to amplify the voice of the indigenous Papuans in Indonesia, who are oppressed by racism and discrimination.

Concerned about the escalating crisis of violence, racism and discrimination against indigenous Papuans in Indonesia, a side event co-sponsored by the WCC was convened during a fall session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss patterns that are oppressing and displacing Papuans.

On 14 February, the Global Christian Forum Committee concluded a fruitful five-day meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where priorities were carved out and future directions of the network outlined.

“Is our notion of discipleship inclusive of those who exist in the marginal spaces of our world?”, asked Adi Mariana Waqa, the keynote speaker of a plenary on the theme of mission from the margins at the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

As the world convenes in Bonn, Germany for the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma issued a statement calling for Methodists around the world to join in prayer for the country’s leadership and for the talanoa process of negotiations which will take place over the next two weeks.

The fourth Asia Mission Conference began yesterday in Yangon, Myanmar.

The first of a series of 12 monthly Bible studies inspired by themes related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace is now available online on the website of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

An interreligious consultation on “Voices of Hope for a New Era” has called for enhanced collaboration between Buddhists and Christians in a spirit of humility and honesty and in service of a shared humanity.

From Paris to Pakistan, Orlando to Myanmar, Iraq to Nigeria, each day witnesses conflict and violence perpetrated in the name of religion or committed against persons because of their religious identity.

Violence in the name of religion echoed in the distance, demanding a response, through the November 2015 meeting of the 25-member Executive Committee of the WCC in Bogis-Bossey and nearby Geneva, Switzerland as it planned the work of the Council in the coming years.

Young ecumenical leaders from Asia have met in Siam Reap, Cambodia to examine how religious traditions can offer resources to overcome religious violence in a changing Asian context.

The newly published issue of Current Dialogue is now available online. Along with key documents from the WCC 10th Assembly, the issue includes several strong pieces addressing some thorny issues in contemporary inter-religious encounter and dialogue, including the recent Malaysian prohibition of Christian use of the name Allah for God, the relationship of ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, the particular difficulties in dialogue among the Abrahamic traditions, and the limits of dialogue itself.

Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.

The WCC has expressed its support for an appeal against a Malaysian court’s decision in October 2013 forbidding the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. This development, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, risks jeopardizing “fundamental values and the long history of multi-religious co-existence in Malaysia”.

Rev. Tuikilakila Waqairatu, president of the Methodist Church in Fiji, who passed away on 11 February, was remembered by the WCC with a moment of “prayerful silence” at its WCC Executive Committee meeting currently underway in Switzerland.

A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.