The world's food systems are broken, and God is calling humanity to fix them, participants heard at an online meeting of faith-based organizations, titled “Facilitating a Global Dialogue.”
The World Council of Churches Vaccine Champions shared their reflections on the status of vaccines in their home contexts, as well as the important role churches are playing in moving toward vaccine equity.
As World Water Week 2021 is underway, this year’s online version has brought unprecedented participation as well as an even stronger role for faith communities.
Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata is general secretary of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. Below, he reflects on the negative impacts of a third wave of a COVID-19 in the nation, and what people most need.
Prof. Dr h.c. Humberto Martin Shikiya, vice president of the Regional Ecumenical Advisory and Service Center (CREAS) In Argentina, reflects on how “Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19 and Beyond” is being received as a hopeful call to collaborate ecumenically and interreligiously. The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue jointly published “Serving a Wounded World” to encourage churches and Christian organizations to reflect on the importance of interreligious solidarity in a world wounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As children and women in Nigeria become targets of rising insecurity and violence, churches are moving to offer support to the victims, while amplifying their voice against the challenge, according to senior Christian women leaders in the West African nation.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grave concern over the impending expiry on 10 July of the resolution allowing cross-border humanitarian assistance to North West Syria.
In an ecumenical meeting for North American church leaders on 24 June, prayers and discussion centered on issues that are both deeply painful and seemingly insurmountable: racism, division, vaccine hesitancy, genocide, war. But hope found a way into the virtual gathering as participants supported each other to find ways forward.
Lorraine Netro, who was raised in the Gwich’in First Nation of Old Crow, Yukon (Canada), is part of an indigenous community—but she’s also a global citizen.
“Today’s Arctic peoples are important members of global society,” Netro said. “The survival of Arctic cultures and communities remains tied to the wildlife and landscape of the Arctic Refuge.”
As Mozambican churches respond to growing humanitarian challenges in the country, their leaders are urging the government to act decisively to end a violent conflict in the north which has left behind a trail of death, destruction and displacement.
The Working Group of Experts of People of African Descent met virtually from 24-26 March to discuss “Environmental Justice, the Climate Crisis and People of African Descent.”
As African churches joined the rest of the world in marking International Women’s Day, pastors, gender experts and activists called for a critical evaluation and strengthening systems to ensure gender justice and equality in churches and society.
Young people in the Pacific region shared their unique ecological insights, along with their passion for change, at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice in February.
Armenians forced to flee Nagorno-Karabakh during last year's fighting in a conflict with Azerbaijan are thankful to churches and all those offering them shelter as many of their homes were destroyed by bombing or are now occupied by others.
The fourth of a series of five webinars promoted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Pan-African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) was held on 18 February, providing reflections on inclusion of both African culture and tradition into theological reflection.
World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent letters to Ethiopian prime minister Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali as well as to WCC member churches in Ethiopia expressing serious concern over alarming reports of conflict, massacres and other human rights abuses, particularly in the Tigray and Beninshangul-Gumuz regions, over the last months.
World Council of Churches central committee moderator Dr Agnes Abuom will serve as a panel speaker on food security during an event hosted by the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund, based in Canada.
A senior African church humanitarian official is calling for joint efforts to meet the growing humanitarian challenge in Tigray, the region in northern Ethiopia.