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In a sermon during a worship service for climate justice in Bonn, Germany, on 12 November, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called for wisdom. “There is a need for wisdom, a desperate need for wisdom in our world today,” he said, “a wisdom that is seeing and understanding the reality, discerning the times in which we live, and a wisdom that has the courage to say that something was wrong, the courage to act in a new way, preparing for the future together.”

Together with the heads of the Coptic, Syrian, Armenian and Indian Orthodox Churches, the Evangelical Church in Germany celebrated on Saturday evening in Berlin an ecumenical prayer for Christians in the Middle East. The jointly prepared service was the highlight of a historic visit. For the first time, Pope Tawadros II, Patriarch Ignatius Afrem II, Catholicos Karekin II and Catholicos Baselios Morthoma Paulose II visited together in Germany to inform political and church representatives on the bad and sad situation in the region of origin of Christianity.

As the recent developments of nuclear weapons and increased tensions between United States and North Korea leaders can bring the world to the brink of war, churches around the world are calling for bilateral dialogue, expressing their commitment to peace and nonviolent resolution.

Amid commemorations in 2017 of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation unleashed by Martin Luther, the latest issue of The Ecumenical Review, the quarterly journal of the World Council of Churches (WCC), offers historical, global and ecumenical perspectives on the Reformation events, and the inspiration they offer to shape the world today.

As a WCC-convened forum on peace on the Korean Peninsula came to a close, participants from around the world, representing many churches, vowed to work together in accompanying the Christians of North and South Korea in their efforts for peace, reconciliation, and development.

The Reformation was a defining moment 500 years ago but can also serve as an inspiration for the next five centuries, South African Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has told tens of thousands of people at the German Protestant Kirchentag.

Almost 800 participants, including 324 delegates, are gathering in Windhoek from 10-16 May for the Twelfth Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the highest LWF decision-making body that meets every six years. World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit will address the plenary on 12 May.

When it comes to healing memories, the “power of forgiveness” can free up the way for the common witness that the world we live in desperately needs, the World Council of Churches general secretary has said.

WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, spoke at the ecumenical penance and reconciliation service in Hildesheim, Germany on 11 March, which he praised as an “encouraging sign of unity in the world”.

A "wall of guilt" to be torn down during the course of a prayer service: this symbolic action marked the central celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity by the Council of Christian Churches in Germany (ACK), as well as celebrations in other parts of the world using the model prepared by the ACK.

Churches are probably the most powerful global civil society group, and they need to live up to this responsibility in the quest for peace, says German bishop, Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. Bedford-Strohm, chairperson of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), was speaking at an event to promote peace in the Ecumenical Centre on 3 November.

As Geneva host celebrations of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation on 3-4 November, the World Council of Churches with the Protestant Church of Geneva (EPG), the International Museum of the Reformation (MIR) and in collaboration with the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches (FEPS), are pleased to invite you to attend a panel discussion on initiatives and the role of Geneva as “Peace Capital” of the world.

Bossey’s story is both old and new but it’s younger than ever, says one of its graduates, a renowned ecumenical scholar who opened a book launch on the history of the institute that has had students from so many parts of the world.

Churches need a “holistic and inclusive vision of just peace” in the face of national and international conflicts, the moderator of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Dr Agnes Abuom, said at an international peace consultation in Berlin.

All of Europe is preparing for the anniversary of «500 year Reformation». On November 3rd 2016 the international festivities and the first stopover of the «Reformation-Truck» will be launched in the City of Reformation, Geneva. Geneva hosts the World Council of Churches as one of many international organisations.

Germany’s main Protestant and Roman Catholic churches have published a “Common Word” for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 in which they call for a “healing of memories” of past divisions and for the event to be commemorated in ecumenical fellowship.