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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has appointed Dr Andrej Jeftić as the new director of the Commission on Faith and Order.

Bringing churches together in a spirit of reconciliation and justice is embodied at Bossey, a message its director brought home as he opened an online conference on ‘teaching ecumenism in the context of world Christianity’.

A collection of documents and publications from the World Council of Churches (WCC) is now available through its longstanding partner organization Globethics.net. The WCC collection, updated weekly, reflects a growing and longstanding electronic bridge between the organizations’ websites.

Seventy-five years ago, on 9 April 1945, the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with six other members of the conspiracy to overthrow Adolf Hitler, was hanged at Flossenbürg execution camp in Germany. He was 39.

Auf seinem ökumenischen Weg hat Georges ,Yorgo‘ Lemopoulos unter fünf Generalsekretären für den ÖRK gearbeitet; für drei von ihnen als stellvertretender Generalsekretär. Er war außerdem Co-Koordinator für die Feierlichkeiten zum 70-jährigen Bestehen des ÖRK. Lemopoulos macht sich Gedanken dazu, wie wichtig es ist, die Dokumente der ÖRK-Leitungsgremien zu digitalisieren und wie die Digitalisierung dazu beitragen kann, uns alle besser über die reichhaltige Geschichte eines globalen ökumenischen Pilgerwegs aufzuklären.

Jürgen Moltmann looked astonished when he saw his name on the list of contributors. In a recent dinner at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, my colleague Stephen Brown, the editor of The Ecumenical Review, surprised him with a 50-year old brochure.

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has recently made available a discussion paper affirming the significance of Agenda 2030 and placing specific demands upon those in positions of responsibility within politics, civil society and churches.

The archbishop Dr Nathan Söderblom, an ecumenical forerunner and messenger of peace in war-torn Europe, challenged a deeply divided Christianity 100 years ago. Against all odds, the Stockholm Conference on Life and Work in 1925 gathered church leaders at a scale the world had not seen since Nicaea 1600 years earlier. And it did not end there.

The 8th International Conference of Orthodox faculties, just held in Thessaloniki, Greece, is expected to contribute to the interpretation and reception of the 2016 “Holy and Great Council” of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

The WCC has begun the process of digitally publishing its Faith and Order Papers, a set of legacy materials comprising 300 discrete publications and totaling 35,000 pages.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit joined others in congratulating Prof. Jürgen Moltmann for receiving an honorary doctorate of divinity degree on 5 April from the Theological Faculty of Pretoria University, South Africa.

Increasingly, the unity of the church is threatened by different positions on moral issues. In response to this, the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC continues to study how churches arrive at the ethical decisions they make.

Rev. Dr Hielke Wolters is leaving the WCC after serving for nine years - the last seven years as associate general secretary - but he is not leaving the ecumenical movement to which he has been dedicated since his student days. Officially is he going to retire, but only on the paper. He has many thoughts and plans to realize as he moves back to the Netherlands to serve, in one way or another, the church or the wider ecumenical movement. Wolters said to WCC News with a smile: “I’m open for any suggestion and I know that God will lead me in the right direction when that time comes.”

Climate-induced loss and damage is one of the key points being raised by faith groups during COP21. A discussion panel and a demonstration held at COP21 in early December brought to light many facets of this issue.