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In a World Council of Churches (WCC) governance meeting, The Church: Towards a Common Vision, a convergence text of the Commission on Faith and Order, was officially presented by the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Drawing on the Indian churches' experience, churches around the world are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a particular focus on justice as integral to the unity they seek.

Baptized into Christ: A Guide to the Ecumenical Discussion of Baptism, by theologian Rev. Dr Dagmar Heller of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), was the topic of a book launch and reception on Friday, 11 January at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

“The image of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg is a powerful symbol for an entire historical process,” said the Rev. Dr Walter Altmann. He said this “process is a theological rediscovery of God's amazing grace, which is to be received in faith for our salvation.”

In recognition of his work for peace, dialogue and Christian witness, the vice-moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC).

“Faith and Order has a long and significant history in the life of the ecumenical movement. Its two convergence texts, 'Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry' and now 'The Church: Towards a Common Vision', provide our member churches with the necessary theological tools towards the full communion of our common fellowship,” said Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima. Metropolitan Gennadios serves as vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee.

African theologian, renowned academic and ecumenist Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri has joined the World Council of Churches (WCC) as its new associate general secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia. She took on her new position at the WCC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, this month.

Why has Eastern Orthodoxy not developed a full-throated political theology? Responding to this question, author Dr Pantelis Kalaitzidis offered a spirited critique of Orthodox Christians' approaches to political life and political theology at a launch of his book on 4 July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) headquarters in Geneva.

On the island of Penang, Malaysia, late in the afternoon of 21 June, the Faith and Order Standing Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC) accepted by consensus “The Church: Towards a Common Vision.”

Around 214 million people in the world are on the move, seeking livelihood and security outside their home countries. To address this global phenomenon of multi-directional migration, and respond to the political, economic, ethical and ecclesiological challenges it poses, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is organizing a regional conference in Lebanon from 5-7 December.

WCC Faith and Order director Canon Dr John Gibaut today cited progress in the work of the Faith and Order Commission at the annual meeting of its standing commission outside Milan.

A number of workshops led by the Orthodox were presented at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), held 17-25 May in Kingston, Jamaica, leading to deep reflection and robust and honest conversations.

“We must avoid stereotypes,” said Rev. Dr Nikolaus Schneider, chair of the council that coordinates relations and activities within the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). As diverse groups encounter one another in the contemporary dynamics of world Christianity, he added, the key questions are whether the calling of the church is being fulfilled by a given community, and whether Jesus Christ is to be found there.

“Without any doubt, ecclesiology remains in our times the crucial issue for Christian theology in ecumenical perspective.” This was one of the conclusions drawn by a week-long consultation in Cyprus at which forty Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox representatives provided a common response to The Nature and Mission of the Church, a 2005 ecumenical text published by the WCC Commission on Faith and Order.

A week-long inter-Orthodox consultation with the aim of studying the Faith and Order document “The Nature and Mission of the Church” began its work on Thursday 3 March in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. The aim of the consultation is to offer distinctly Orthodox insights as part of a world-wide discussion of the doctrine of the Church, or “ecclesiology”. The gathering is hosted by the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

The Rev. Jennifer Leath is a member the World Council of Churches Joint Consultative Group with the Pentecostals and ECHOS, the WCC commission of youth. She is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the USA and identifies herself as “a Black American who lives in solidarity with those in the African Diaspora and all those who experience oppression, these are they who capture my heart.” Leath was one of the speakers at the 2011 WCC Central Committee plenary on “Ecclesiological Landscape”, where she shared a strong testimony on the issue of youth and ecumenical movement.  She was interviewed by Marcelo Schneider.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, made his first formal visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams on Friday 14 January 2011. Tveit led a delegation from the WCC to a meeting with the archbishop and other senior leaders of the Church of England at Church House, Westminster, London, the administrative headquarters of the Church of England.

Pope Benedict XVI will welcome the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches since January of this year, to a private audience at the Vatican on Saturday 4 December.

With migrants tallying some 250 million of the world’s population, churches need to help defuse public hostility towards them. That is what participants agreed at an international consultation on the mission and ecclesiology of migrant churches, jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order, the WCC programme on Just and Inclusive Communities, and the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism together with the Ecumenical Network on Multicultural Ministry and Mission.

A joint response by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria (ELKB) and the Roman Catholic dioceses of this southern German state to the document "Called to be the One Church" was given to the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit on 15 March in Geneva, Switzerland.