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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).

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee expressed its concern and alarm at the recent escalation of tensions between the USA and the Islamic Republic of Iran, following the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the “Iran Nuclear Deal.”

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.

Upon the passing of Senior Bishop McKinley Young on 16 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit commemorated the life of a significant leader within the African Methodist Episcopal Church and within the ecumenical world.

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.

“I see this approach of ‘a healthy church’ as a setting that will hopefully go global,” says Dr Suzanne Jackson of the University of Toronto, who directs the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion.

“We must lift the veil on our beguilement with consumerist culture and materialistic values”, said Bishop Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada and president of the World Council of Churches (WCC) for North America, as he addressed a panel promoted by the WCC at the 2018 sessions of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, held in Toronto, Canada, 1-7 November.

The Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) organized a series of meetings between church leaders from North America and United Nations experts on racial justice issues in New York City on 29-31 October.

Faith leaders and health service providers from across the globe gathered on 27 September for an interfaith prayer breakfast, to join their voices and commit their action to combat the spread of HIV and TB in children.

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.

As we mourn the passing of Rev. Dr James Hal Cone, who died on 28 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) also commemorates his great academic and church leadership contributions. Cone, known as the founder of black liberation theology, was also the Bill and Judith Moyers Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary.
We also recognize that he was a member of one of our founding churches, the African Methodist Church, a church that has carried the globally-known vision and legacy of freedom and justice, a legacy that is now just as living and important as ever.

From 16-27 April, the United Nations headquarters in New York City is hosting the 17th Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The World Council of Churches (WCC) is assisting the participation of a representative of the Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples Network Reference Group (EIPNRG) and co-sponsored a public event that explored ways that the church can move into a new phase of interaction with indigenous communities.

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 its deep disappointment at US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement the WCC has urged renewed commitment by churches and praised local communities and governments for their reaffirmation of climate commitments.

Bezüglich der jüngsten US-amerikanischen Maßnahmen in Bezug auf die Aufnahme von Flüchtlingen und die Einreise in die USA aus sieben Ländern mit muslimischer Mehrheit drücken der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK), die ACT Alliance (ACT) und der Lutherische Weltbund (LWB) ihre Besorgnis aus und bekräftigen, dass alle Christinnen und Christen aufgrund ihres Glaubens verpflichtet seien, Fremde, Flüchtlinge, Binnenvertriebene, den „Anderen“ zu lieben und willkommen zu heißen.