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A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation led by WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Pillay visited New York City and Washington, DC this week, meeting with United Nations representatives, the Papal Nuncio, the National Council of Churches in North America, other church leaders, and ecumenical organizations and state officials.

In a historic vote, Rev. Dr Karen Georgia Thompson, a Black woman born in Jamaica, was elected as general minister and president by the United Church of Christ's 34th General Synod on 3 July.

On 20 July, faith communities from 70 different groups across the world gathered online and in-person in Washington, DC to express solidarity for the billions of people without access to COVID-19 vaccines.

The National Council of Churches USA (NCCUSA) will confer its President’s Award for Excellence in Faithful Leadership to Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) central committee.

During a webinar on 9 September entitled “Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination in North America,” speakers and listeners across the world explored how we define racism, and how we can create a culture of inclusive communities.

Members of Bread for the World’s Pan African Young Adult Network embarked on a pilgrimage to Jamestown, Virginia (USA) on 23-25 August to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved African peoples in 1619.

Evelyn L. Parker, a member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, has been selected for a 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant.

A statement from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee commemorated the quad-centennial of the forced transatlantic voyage of enslaved African peoples from Angola to Jamestown, Virginia (USA).

During a service of remembrance and celebration in the Ecumenical Centre Chapel on 24 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee commemorated the lives, witness and ministry of Rev. Robina Winbush and Rev. Norman Tendis.

A funeral on 22 March celebrated the life of Rev. Robina Winbush, a World Council of Churches (WCC) Central and Executive Committee member known for her fierce advocacy for justice.

Rev. Robina Winbush, a World Council of Churches (WCC) Central and Executive Committee member known for her fierce advocacy for justice, died suddenly on 12 March.

The life of Rev. Dr Rena Joyce Weller Karefa-Smart is being remembered and commended this week by the WCC fellowship after her passing last week. Karefa-Smart was the first Pan African woman to graduate in 1945 from Yale Divinity School. She was a champion for global ecumenism over the course of a long and distinguished career. An attendee of the first WCC Assembly, she was also a procession leader and author of the liturgies at the second WCC Assembly in Evanston, Illinois (USA).

At the swimming pool in Maxine Ankrah’s home town when she was growing up, there was a sign that stated, “Whites Only.” Also, churches there were separated by colour. She did not grow up in apartheid South Africa, but in the “deep South” of the United States of America before the Second World War.

A conversation on the way home to Chile from the WCC 4th Assembly planted an ecumenical seed that grew into a wonderful experience of Christian unity – the partnership agreement between the Pentecostal Church of Chile and the United Church of Christ.

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson has a unique position in observing and advocating for women’s rights or, as she would quickly clarify, “the fair treatment of human beings” no matter what their gender. As bishop-in-residence at the Hollywood United Methodist Church, she ministers to church members who were not only present at this week’s Golden Globe Awards – they were the nominees. And, as vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee, she is part of a global parish, traveling to communities far removed from the privilege of Hollywood, where violence occurs against women who are seen by their own communities as having no voice and no rights.

Sit beside Bishop Mary Ann Swenson for five minutes, and you see that she is constantly nurturing people to learn more about each other, walk together, and become more unified, no matter their differences.

At a “Hearing on Racism, Discrimination, Afrophobia and Xenophobia” held at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 25 September, speakers reflected, lamented and, at times, simply sat in silence as they considered the experience of people of African descent in the USA.

Expressing concern regarding recently announced US measures related to refugee admissions and entry into the US by seven Muslim-majority countries, the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance (ACT), and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) affirmed that faith calls all Christians to love and welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced person - “the other.”