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This document is a summary and synthesis of policy positions on key issues pertaining to the situation in Palestine and Israel adopted by governing bodies of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1948 to 2016. It addresses major themes in these policy positions, but does not pretend to full comprehensiveness. The document has no official standing itself; for the official authoritative positions, the original policy documents referred to should be consulted directly.

"From Harare to Porto Alegre" is the report of the activities and dialogue undertaken between the WCC's eighth assembly in December 1998 in Zimbabwe and the final stages of preparation for the Ninth Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil in February 2006. In telling the story of the Council, it also reflects the life and faith of member churches, partner agencies and individual believers.

De Harare a Porto Alegre es el informe del comité central del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) sobre las actividades y el diálogo emprendidos dentro de la comunidad ecuménica entre la Octava Asamblea del CMI, celebrada en diciembre de 1998 en el campus de la Universidad de Harare en Zimbabwe, y las fases finales de preparación para la Novena Asamblea que se celebrará en la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Porto Alegre, Brasil, en febrero de 2006. A la vez que cuenta la historia del Consejo Mundial, refleja también la vida y la fe de las iglesias miembros, los organismos conexos y los creyentes individuales.

The WCC's eighth Assembly in 1998 discussed a proposal for a forum of Christian churches and ecumenical organizations that would bring together churches participating in the ecumenical movement, e.g. WCC member churches, the Catholic church, other churches, and Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent churches, as well as ecumenical and para-church organizations.

La Octava Asamblea del CMI (1998) debatió la propuesta de crear un Foro de Iglesias Cristianas y de Organizaciones Ecuménicas, que reuniría a las iglesias que participan en el movimiento ecuménico, como las iglesias miembros del CMI, la Iglesia Católica, otras iglesias y las iglesias evangélicas, pentecostales e independientes, así como a organizaciones ecuménicas y organizaciones relacionadas con las iglesias.

How will the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Harare be remembered? This official report begins with the words of a litany used at the opening worship in which the central messages of the seven preceding assemblies were recalled. What has been and what will be received as the main message of this jubilee assembly at Harare?

The Message of the WCC 8th Assembly

The Assembly Message of the eighth assembly of the World Council of Churches, 3 - 14 December 1998.

Anastasios, Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, explored the implications of "anamnesis" - "remembrance" - for the church and the world, lifting up the importance of anamnesis for the ecumenical movement. Delegates were given some silent time to reflect on his words before turning their attention to the second presentation.

Wanda Deifelt, vice-rector and professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil, and a member of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil, spoke about "metanoia" - "conversion" - naming the ways that Christians need to repent. Following her reflections selected delegates read, in different voices and in different languages, passages of scripture related to the "jubilee year" (Lev. 25:8-17, 39-43).

The third meditation was given by Kosuke Koyama, recently retired professor of ecumenical studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York and a former missionary of the United Church of Christ in Japan. He addressed the second part of the assembly theme, reflecting on how we can rejoice in hope in the face of so much suffering and violence.