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World Council of Churches (WCC) staff gathered from 5 to 8 April for the first in-person Staff Planning Days in more than two years. Gathering also in a hybrid fashion, the aim was to strengthen collaboration, continue planning for the WCC 11th Assembly and initiate planning for 2023.

A “Go for Gender Justice” initiative was launched by the Protestant Church in Germany in Berlin on 1 February with calls for overcoming gender clichés and traditional role models. Germany’s "First Lady,” the judge Elke Büdenbender called on women and men to fight together for social change. Under the motto "Go for Gender Justice,” nine regional churches invited people to move together toward gender equality.

On 20 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca reflected on “The Pandemic, the World Council of Churches, and Global Health,” as part of a discussion hosted by the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of Angelicum University.

An ecumenical prayer service on World AIDS Day, to be observed 1 December, will focus on the theme “Overcoming Inequalities With Justice and Love,” a special emphasis in the context of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which runs from 25 November until 10 December.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee closed its meeting after convening from 12-17 November, leaving with a sense of hope, even while publicly expressing grave concern over many global injustices facing the world today.

From peacebuilding to spiritual life, from children’s rights to planning for the 11th Assembly, the World Council for Churches (WCC) is a busy place, as students from the WCC Bossey Ecumenical Institute learned during a “Week of Focus” offered by WCC staff.

A team from the Church of Westphalia visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey from 27 September to 1 October, exploring a global view of ecumenism by learning about the WCC as a global ecumenical organisation.

Bishop Johan Tyrberg and a delegation from the Church of Sweden in Lund visited the World Council of Churches on 22-23 September, participating in a morning prayer for Christian unity, receiving a guided tour and discussing the theme of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity.”

Besides the dangerous monopoly structures in the digital economy, there is a danger for liberty and justice as they are crucial for pluralistic democracies in the digital world, says Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria. Bedford-Strohm is also chairperson of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany and was a keynote speaker at the opening of the symposium exploring challenges and opportunities for a more just digital future, in Berlin on 13-15 September, and co-organized by the EKD.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent a letter of congratulations to Rebeca Grynspan, the new secretary general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

As she joined women from Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Catholic perspectives, World Council of Churches deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri offered an ecumenical perspective on Fratelli tutti, the third encyclical of Pope Francis on fraternity and social friendship.

Upon the 20th anniversary of the UN Resolution 1325, the question is still being answered as to whether women’s important work in peace and security is getting the visibility it deserves.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the passing away of Hendrew Lusey-Gekawaku on 13 October 2020. He was a registered nurse, public health practitioner and ecumenist who contributed enormously to ecumenical and interfaith HIV and AIDS responses.

The Global Media Monitoring Project, able to take place safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to promote gender justice in media coverage. Thousands of volunteers from 145 countries are participating.