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For most of the world’s newest nation, wracked by internal conflict, joy seems far away, and yet for Christians, Easter is still a time of hope. A recent message from the South Sudan Council of Churches says the Resurrection reminds us that even in this world there is “goodness and light with triumph”.

For the general overseer of the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) there is trauma and hopelessness in his country, and the only institution that can offer hope at the moment is the church. “We are experiencing levels of violence we have never seen before,” says the bishop. “I talk as a church person, as a person who is involved in the situation every day, listening and hearing from both sides and the ordinary person in the street,” says quiet-spoken Dau, whose words carry a poignant power.

Like many people brought up in rural Kenya, Catherine Mwangi had a long walk to fetch water for home use from a nearby river in what she calls her “humble upbringing”. For the past seven years, Mwangi has been the executive director ADSMKE (the Anglican Development Services of Mount Kenya East) and water access is an important issue in her work.

The South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) is appealing to the international community to provide immediate and large-scale humanitarian assistance, while calling on its warring parties to stop the fighting ravaging the country.

At the initiative of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, the Church of Uganda is now including persons with disabilities in its “Empowering youth and women for sustainable livelihoods” project. This project, which is being implemented by the church’s Planning, Development and Rehabilitation Department in the Busoga Diocese, aims at impacting and improving household incomes through farming skills and management ethics for sustainability.

A workshop in Mozambique examined the connections between finance on the one hand and food and land on the other. Titled “From the Financialization of Food to Life-giving Agriculture,” the workshop took place in Maputo from 7-11 December. It was organized by the WCC together with Bread for All and was hosted by the Christian Council of Mozambique.

Representatives from the WCC's Ecumenical Water Network gathered in Nigeria from 27-29 November to discuss water as a basic human right in Africa and beyond.

Green Cross International has launched a new edition of The Future We Want photo exhibition for 2016 at the United Nations in Geneva. It features a number of its new partner organizations from around the world, including the WCC.

The World Council of Churches co-organised a discussion in Geneva on 28 September entitled “Rebuilding from below: The role of local civil society in South Sudan.”

Only weeks after the WCC and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought joined Nigerian Christians and Muslims to launch the International Centre for Inter-Faith Peace and Harmony, in Kaduna, Nigeria, a dire food crisis calls the attention of churches and partners around the globe.

Blantyre Synod is the component part of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) for the southern region of Malawi. The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed the Blantyre Synod to the ecumenical fellowship in July at the WCC Central Committee meeting. Rev. Alex Benson Maulana, general secretary of the Blantyre Synod, spoke to WCC news about why the synod has joined WCC.

The South Sudan Council of Churches released a message to a UN Security Council delegation on 3 September. As the nation is burdened by a “stigma of fear, insecurity and humanitarian suffering and trauma,” there is a loss of faith, confidence, hope and trust in the government’s promises, security forces, and freedom of speech and movement, the message states.

“Water, food and climate justice are key to a sustainable future.” This was one of the key messages from the WCC Ecumenical Water Network at the recent general assembly of the Council of Presbyterian and Reformed Churches of Latin America, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in mid-August. As part of its work on climate change and access to safe drinking water, AIPRAL released a new pedagogical tool at the assembly: the book “We are on Time”.

Interview with Fr James Oyet-Latansio (JOL), general secretary of the Christian Council in South Sudan and Mr Ferdinand von Habsburg-Lothringen (FHL), advisor on reconciliation, South Sudan Council of Churches

Church leaders in Zimbabwe expressed their concern for their country’s political, social and economic meltdown that has caused increasing civic unrest and violence over the past month.

We are failing our children with HIV care was the stark message of a joint session of the interfaith and Catholic pre-conferences being held in Durban, South Africa in advance of AIDS 2016. Targets for childcare have been missed, medication is not suitable and we still need earlier infant diagnosis with half of infants infected dying within 24 months.

South Sudan is in crisis again. People are suffering. There is no food. The situation is very urgent, according to the latest news from church leaders in South Sudan, says Dr Nigussu Legesse, WCC programme executive for South Sudan.

With increasing violence and growing crowds of people seeking protection, urgent action and support from the ecumenical community is needed in South Sudan as the country teeters on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.

Getting more people tested and treated for HIV, caring for the sick, helping people understand how to care for themselves —these are the tasks of faith-based organizations (FBOs) helping people with HIV in local communities.

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.