Moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee Dr Agnes Abuom shared a message with the Conference of the World Council of Religious Leaders on Faith and Diplomacy: Generations in Dialogue, being held 4-7 October in Lindau, Germany.
On 4 October 2021, faith leaders representing the world’s major religions joined scientists at the Vatican to call on the international community to raise their ambition and step up their climate action ahead of COP26. Almost 40 faith leaders signed a joint Appeal, which was presented by Pope Francis to COP26 President-Designate, the Rt Hon Alok Sharma, and the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Luigi Di Maio.
Religious leaders in Tanzania, after attending a workshop on HIV, stigma, treatment adherence and faith healing, released a communique that urges further empowering of religious leaders with skills and information to combat HIV.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared prayerful greetings, in a letter, with the gathering of the Norwegian Christian Council.
Pastor Godson Lawson Kpavuvu, president of the Methodist Church of Togo, is also chair of the International Reference Group of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy programme (WCC-EHAIA). Involved with WCC-EHAIA from the beginning, he reflects below on what it’s like to be, as he describes, “one of the veterans of the struggle.”
The World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative and Advocacy programme, in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Cameroon, organized a UNAIDS-PEPFAR faith initiative for religious leaders in Cameroon on HIV risks and vulnerabilities among displaced persons, migrants and refugees.
Applications are open for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) 2022, which will take place in two phases—online and residential—under the theme “Christ’s Love (Re)moves Borders.”
A new photo frame created by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is now available to help counter fear and misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines with positive and accurate images and words.
“With each wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities have been experiencing collective trauma that has further deepened the injustices, including racism and economic inequity,” said Rev. Dr Sang Chang, World Council of Churches (WCC) president for Asia, during an online consultation, organised by the WCC and the Christian Conference of Asia on 4 June.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) International Planning Group for the Global Ecumenical Theological Institute (GETI) met on 7 June to further solidify plans for GETI 2022, which will take place in two phases—online and residential—under the theme “Christ’s Love (Re)moves Borders.”
Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, was asked about the WCC executive committee meeting held on 17-23 May 2021. The WCC executive committee set a tone of hope for the future while, at the same time, addressing multiple global crises with statements, pastoral messages, and calls for prayer.
The transition to online programming and prayers during COVID-19 has challenged the WCC, and the rest of the world, Abuom found, and said is a “heavy burden” on all in the ecumenical family as the WCC prepares for its 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany next year.
Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary for Public Witness and Diakonia, reflects on how the WCC’s Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, though forced to change during COVID-19, has nonetheless brought gifts to the WCC and to the world.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca shared cordial greetings to Buddhist friends across the world observing the festival of Vesak. “May the values of compassion, loving kindness, empathy and equanimity taught by Gautama Buddha, whose birth, enlightenment and death you commemorate on this auspicious occasion, continue to inspire and guide you during this time of pandemic,” wrote Sauca. “We are living in an unprecedented time of uncertainty and widespread suffering due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
