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Indigenous Peoples and the Economy of Life: Spirituality, Land, and Self-Determination

22 April 2021

As part of the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) initiative, the World Council of Churches together with the World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Methodist Council and Council for World Mission will be hosting a webinar highlighting the voices of Indigenous Peoples and their understandings of the Economy of Life.  

Address by Prof Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri at the closing ceremony of Eco-School 2020/21 for the Pacific (26 February 2021)

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I had addressed you less than a week ago at the opening of the WCC Eco School 2020-2021 on Sunday evening, Geneva time. And here I am addressing you at the closing. The past 5 days have passed very quickly.  I have been updated by my colleagues responsible for the Eco School that this was an unique experience for all of them and I am sure for you as well. Carrying out a training programme for 5 consecutive days beyond midnight was new for most of them.  But I gather it has been a very enriching experience for them journeying with you all imparting this important training and at the same time listening to your valuable comments, questions and feedback.  But as I said in the opening, despite the geographic and time divide, we are united together virtually for a common cause  -  and that it eco justice! 

WCC Programmes

Address by Prof Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri at the opening ceremony of Eco-School - Pacific (22 February 2021)

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We are deeply privileged to conduct this Eco- School with all of you, with the youth from 5 different nations, in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Tonga and Vanuatu. We are truly blessed to join you, the Pacific youth, along with the global ecumenical family and partners for this opening ceremony. We are holding hands virtually, bridging the oceans, the geographic and time divide, and the disruptions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. We thank you, the Pacific youth, for your time and commitment.

WCC Programmes

WCC Executive Committee envisions future for one ecumenical movement

The WCC Executive Committee met in Uppsala, Sweden from 1-8 November to approve the 2019 programme plans and budget, follow up and decide on a variety of assembly matters, review the WCC strategic plan, discuss world affairs and issue seven statements in response to current situations. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s Communication Strategy.

Translating the Word, Transforming the World

An Ecumenical Reader

A stellar collection of nearly 30 of the most important, orienting documents of contemporary ecumenical and missiological reflection. Composed and compiled to serve as a textbook for the meeting of the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute, held in Arusha, Tanzania, in conjunction with the world conference of the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism in March 2018, the volume nurtures ecumenical theological formation with a contextual sensitivity yet a truly global focus.

Thomas de Maizière: On the frontlines of refugee integration

While it was German chancellor Angela Merkel who boldly affirmed the willingness of Germany to receive hundreds of thousands of immigrants, it has fallen to the interior ministry, under the leadership of her longtime ally Dr Thomas de Maizière, that must realize that dream – and keep it from becoming a nightmare – through concrete arrangements for reception and integration of migrants into German society and its economy.

Local and global work saves lives

It is raining. It is cold and windy. Autumn is in the air in northern Greece. We have just arrived at the Idomeni refugee camp in northern Greece, on the border between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). The fast-approaching winter poses as great a threat to the refugees as do the smugglers. In the worst case, winter means death.

Inspirations for an “economy of life” in The Ecumenical Review

The possibility of a new economic framework is the chief focus of the newly published issue of The Ecumenical Review. Informed by years of ecumenical work on the relationship of poverty, wealth and ecology (including the proposal for a “greed line”), the 14 contributors offer an array of insights from specific contexts and religious standpoints – Dalits, South Africans, Latin Americans, Indigenous spirituality, feminist theology and non-Christian religions – into the values and structures that can create an “economy of life” for all.

Ecological debt is a spiritual issue

“Nature is our home,” said Dr. Maria Sumire Conde from the Quecha community of Peru. She says some of those who have come there, however, have not been good guests.