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As the world reaches what UN secretary-general António Guterres has termed “an inflection point” in addressing major, converging crises, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is intensifying its close interactions with the United Nations, key UN agencies, and partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Vigilance is needed to sustain people's acceptance of one another to prevent aberrations such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994 and the Russian-Ukraine war, a UN special adviser has told a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

A woman who works with youth in Kenya—young people who once turned to heinous crimes—had a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims weeping tears of compassion and joy as she recounted her tough upbringing and how she helps turn those youth from crime to community.

Peace is not a given these days, an international group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims has heard from a woman whose father survived the Holocaust as she stressed the need to talk and listen to one another.

Amidst amplified calls for peace in Sudan, a glimmer of hope has spread in the northeastern African country, after fighting forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire.

A new report offering an overview of the human rights situation in West Papua found little progress in decreasing human rights violations in 2022 and calls for reducing violence and promoting accountability in 2023.

Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a recipient of the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, is a household name in peace building and community mobilisation in the Kenyan coastal region.

Can ecumenical peacebuilding guide the way towards shared interests in the Russia-Ukraine war, which exemplifies the clash of fundamentally different value systems, ethical frameworks, and historical narratives? Peter Prove, director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs reflects on the issue in the inaugural edition of Geneva Policy Outlook, a new online publication.

In 1919, three Armenian families—the Balian, Karakeshian, and Ohanessian families—were brought to Jerusalem by Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs, then military governor of Jerusalem, to renovate the 16th century tiles at the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

The following feature begins a series of reflections from churches in different countries on "reconciliation" in the midst of conflict and division, following the theme of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.” As the WCC commits to working together as a fellowship on a “Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and Unity,” these stories explore how deepened relationships can lead to understanding and radical change.

“We are asked to reflect on the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee and the WCC 11th Assembly,” said Janet Scott, Friends World Committee for Consultation, as she prepared to facilitate the confessional meeting of the Moravian and historic peace churches on the first day of the central committee meeting. “Our historic peace church way to reflect is to consider how to further the cause of peace.”

When heads of Churches in South Sudan unveiled the Action Plan for Peace in the Rwandan Capital, Kigali in 2015, the immediate aim was to stop the war.

While the World Council of Churches (WCC) deeply appreciates peace-building efforts in South Sudan, the WCC is also calling attention to the dire circumstances in which the people of South Sudan are still forced to lead their daily lives.

An ecumenical leader in South Sudan has appealed to the world not to give up on his country, which during the first decade of its independence has repeatedly slid backward into political and ethnic violence.

In the first of a two-part webinar series on “Missing and Murdered: Addressing Femicide and Sexual and Gender-based Violence in our Global Context,” speakers on 25 November urged religious leaders and all people to be aware of the root causes of femicide and gender-based violence—and act now to end them.

The World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel may be officially over for the year but for Fuad Giacaman, it continues week after week, one day at a time, every minute at the grassroots—as it has for decades.

As Mozambican churches respond to growing humanitarian challenges in the country, their leaders are urging the government to act decisively to end a violent conflict in the north which has left behind a trail of death, destruction and displacement.