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Seven Weeks for Water 2024, week 4: "Thirst for justice: a Dalit women’s perspective on water rights"

The  fourth reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2024 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Rev. Dr Anupama Hial.  In this reflection, she recalls her struggles in the past as a Dalit woman in India to get access to clean water.  She challenges churches to be a catalyst for fulfilling the promise of Isaiah to provide free water to all who are thirsty, especially to the Dalit women. 

Seven Weeks for Water 2024, week 3: "Celebrating Jesus’ life in water through the lens of justice”

The third reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2024 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Very Rev. Dr Augustinos Bairactaris. In this reflection, he underscores that the water justice issue is a theological task for all, and that the health of the water is vital to human civilization, and for the stability of the worlds climate and biodiversity. He urges all Christians to pray, fast, and act together for a sustainable environment and planet, especially during Lent.

What can churches do to prevent modern slavery?

Jackline Makena Mutuma is a clergy with the Methodist Church in Kenya and a student at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, where her current research is related to the intersection of modern-day slavery and global warming. She was also recently elected as one of the vice moderators of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order. In a WCC interview, she reflects on the urgent issue of preventing modern slavery.

Seven Weeks for Water 2024, week 1: Water for peace in the Middle East region

The first reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2024 series of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network is written by Dr Munib Younan,* bishop emeritus of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and former president of the Lutheran World Federation. In this reflection, the author, as a Palestinian, in line with this year's theme of "leveraging water for peace,” reflects on Isaiah's promise of free water for the thirsty in the context of the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza that has worsened the water situation in Gaza to catastrophic levels.

“They want to live without fear and constant harassment”

ire Ní Mheibhric, from Galway, Ireland, served as an ecumenical accompanier in the village of Tubas, in the West Bank, from 31 August to 7 October. She also previously served as an ecumenical accompanier in 2019 in Hebron. The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel, based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country, accompanies the local people and communities, offering protective presence and witnessing their daily struggles and hopes. Below, Ní Mheibhric reflects on what she witnessed while in the field.

Video interview: WCC “will be known by where it invests its moral and financial resources”

In a video interview with WCC news, Rev. Dr Liberato C. Bautista, assistant general secretary for United Nations and International Affairs, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, reflects on the dynamics of the ecumenical movement between local and global realities and the role of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in international multilateral dialogue.

Chateau de Bossey thriving as lives are transformed

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey was inaugurated in 1946 at the scenic Château de Bossey—and its thriving in unprecedented ways today. It draws not only students but families, theologians, and vacationers who visit the Hotel & Conference Center for many different reasons.

During solidarity visit to Türkiye, WCC and ACT Alliance witness great needs yet great collaboration: “the churches are all working together”

After returning from a solidarity visit to Türkiye, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay and ACT Alliance general secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria appear in a video interview speaking about what they saw, how churches are working together, and their unique reflections on their visit—held 4-6 April—took place during western Holy Week.

Seven Weeks for Water 2023, week 5: "Water: a gift of God, a public good and a human right. Should we privatize it?", by Rev. Dr. Donald Bruce Yeates

Originally published in 2020, the fifth reflection of the seven weeks for water 2023 of the WCC’s Ecumenical Water Network is by Rev. Dr. Donald Bruce Yeates, a minister of Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church of Suva, Fiji and a consultant chaplain at The University of the South Pacific. Bruce has been active in the Pacific since 1975 as an academic in social work, community development and social policy having served at the University of Papua New Guinea and The University of the South Pacific. In the following  reflection he underlines the importance of human right to water and the onslaught of privatisation in the backdrop of  world’s most famous bottled water which comes from his home country, the “Fiji waters”.

Seven Weeks for Water 2023, week 3: "Feminization of water poverty in Africa", by Dr Agnes Abuom

Originally written in 2017, The third of the seven reflections of the Lenten Campaign: Seven Weeks for Water 2023 of the Word Council of Churches’ (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) is by Dr Agnes Abuom, former moderator of the WCC’s central committee. 

Dr Abuom was the first woman and first African to hold this important position. She is also the Executive Director of TAABCO Research and Development Consultants, based in Nairobi, Kenya. In her reflection, being an African woman on the eve of International Women’s Day, she explores the linkages between poverty, water scarcity and its impact on women.  It is also contextual in that today Kenya is reeling under a serious drought which is deteriorating the situation for women as they are mostly responsible for fetching water for their families.

Pandemic and pedagogy: what are the valuable lessons?

Rev. Prof. Dr Benjamin Simon, World Council of Churches programme executive for Ecumenical Theological Education, offered reflections after a December hybrid conference entitled Theological Education: Pandemic and Pedagogy,” held at the Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana. The conference was co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and Evangelische Mission Weltweit. The conference drew more than 80 participants from all over the world.