As the world reaches what UN secretary-general António Guterres has termed “an inflection point” in addressing major, converging crises, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is intensifying its close interactions with the United Nations, key UN agencies, and partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on 8-14 November, released a statement that demands an immediate ceasefire, and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Palestine and Israel.
Matthias Schmale is a UN resident and humanitarian coordinator based in Nigeria. He previously served with the UN Relief and Works Agency, and is also a former World Council of Churches (WCC) steward. He took some time to reflect on his concerns, current work, and fond memories of his days as a steward.
In good weather, I was told, you might even be able to see Mont Blanc from up here. Here on the rising Jura mountains with its peaks behind you and Lake Geneva in front of you. But on a rainy day like this, you hardly had a chance to even glimpse the Alps on the other side of the lake. The day was to include other things than beautiful mountain landscapes, even as the 35 students from all over the world set out to climb new, ecumenical peaks. It was the Dies academicus of the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, with the motto "Pilgrimage of Justice, Reconciliation, and unity.”
A World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation nearly reached the Lachin corridor on 19 September, the same day Azerbaijan launched attacks against Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) region.
Carla Khijoyan, World Council of Churches (WCC) programme executive for the Middle East, shares her journey of how the Emerging Peacemakers Forum was initiated. She was formerly the WCC programme executive for Youth Engagement in the Ecumenical Movement.
With a focus on peacebuilding and human rights protection, The United Evangelical Mission’s International Summer School 2023, organized in cooperation with the World Council of Churches and other partners, took place in August and September in Hofgeismar, Germany.
A young Christian from the United Kingdom has said that the young generation needs the older generation to work with them to tackle the world's problems, as neither group can do it alone.
The world needs young leadership very badly because those from the older generation have not delivered, the head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has told young Christian, Jewish, and Muslim participants at the Emerging Peacemakers Forum.
WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay offered a reflection during the graduation ceremony on 13 July of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum as young leaders celebrated their two-week long time of collaborating, dialogue, and insight.
Nelson Mandela's maxim that to build peace, you need to transform your enemy into a partner is invaluable, a French ethics foundation leader of Lebanese origin has told young Christian, Jewish, and Muslim participants at the Emerging Peacemakers Forum.
The Emerging Peacemakers Forum aims to empower youth to contribute to building a better future for themselves and humanity, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Elders said at a meeting in Geneva.
A parliamentarian from the UAE has cautioned a group of young Christian, Jewish, and Muslim peacemakers that terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have shown proficiency in using social media to attain their goals.
Messages of hope related to climate change and global conflicts from renowned global peacemakers have inspired young Christians, Jews, and Muslims at the Emerging Peacemakers Forum, held 5-14 July at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey. The young peacemakers have spent nearly 10 days crafting the next generation of peacebuilding.
The forum is organized in partnership between the Muslim Council of Elders, the WCC, and the Rose Castle Foundation.
Vigilance is needed to sustain people's acceptance of one another to prevent aberrations such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994 and the Russian-Ukraine war, a UN special adviser has told a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
