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“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.”

To stress the relevance of theological scholarship programmes for the future of world Christianity, a conference was organized by the Ecumenical Theological Education programme of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and the Academy of Mission, University of Hamburg.

“Before God and our communities, we are responsible to Jews for the historical and ongoing realities of anti-Semitism, to Palestinians since the Nakba, to Muslim neighbours in the light of Islamophobia, to persons who are vulnerable, and to victims of colonial conquest, among others," said participants of a World Council of Churches (WCC) sponsored conference.

Five general secretaries of international ecumenical organizations engaged in lively conversation with leaders of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) on Friday 8 April, the final day of the EKD Council’s visit to the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva. The general secretaries are heads of the ACT Alliance, the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“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.

Members of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) Council began a three-day visit at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva Wednesday afternoon by first meeting with the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and then later with the general secretaries of the Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Conference of European Churches and ACT Alliance.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) Living Letters team has appealed to Nigeria's religious leaders to encourage people belonging to different ethnic and faith groups to take initiatives to promote lasting peace and harmony in violence-affected communities.

An ecumenical church convention which had attracted more than 130'000 participants from the whole of Germany and beyond, 12-16 May, has given a crucial impetus to the ecumenical movement in the country.

"Our commitment to peace as churches and as Christians is something we have inherited at birth, or, indeed, from the birth of the baby of Bethlehem," said Bishop Dr Martin Schindehütte of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) at a day preparing for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation.

How Christians living in a rich society deal with the concern for the poor was one of the subjects discussed by participants at a German church convention (Kirchentag) celebrated in Munich, from 12-16 May.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will be one of the main speakers at the Second Ecumenical Kirchentag (church convention) in Munich, Germany, 12-16 May.

A Living Letters team of the World Council of Churches (WCC) will pay a solidarity visit to Nigeria from 15-20 May 2010.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has congratulated Bishop Dr Margot Kässmann on her election as chairperson of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany. In a 28 October letter to Kässmann, Kobia highlighted her "exceptional participation" and "many years of commitment […] to ecumenism and to the WCC", and expressed the conviction that under her leadership the EKD will "continue to flourish and be a significant actor in German society in the years to come".