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With a year soon past since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 a global pandemic, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will observe a week of prayer from 22-27 March. 

A WCC support team is online and ready to help WCC member churches as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve. The team—comprised of experts in different facets of faith-related pandemic response—is here for you, said WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca. “These are people who can serve as a tremendous support to the WCC fellowship,” said Sauca.

Prof. Christoph Stückelberger is president and founder of globethics.net. This interview was first published and produced in German by Reformiert.info

The World Health Organization has published “Practical considerations and recommendations for religious leaders and faith-based communities in the context of COVID-19,” a document and risk assessment tool for religious leaders, faith-based organizations, and faith communities in COVID-19 education, preparedness, and response.

The WCC is offering member churches some resources with a human face during the COVID-19 pandemic. A team of eight resource people has been made available to consult on how churches can discern their roles during the coronavirus pandemic, how they can adapt as faith communities, and how they can connect and share with each other.

As the world grapples with the spread of the new coronavirus, churches are finding ways to continue their traditions, but now by virtual means. On the coming Sabbath, churches around the world will engage in prayer, not publicly – as the church moves out of big public buildings – but inside the private spaces of homes.

People pray daily for an end to the coronavirus-COVID-19 that is gripping the world, turning human interaction into a virtual affair and upending lives everywhere during a struggle against a silent enemy about which little is known.

Pacific islands experience lasting impacts of the 50 years of nuclear testing and the region has become a global hotspot of climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) learned in its meeting this week in Brisbane, Australia.

The WHO Director-General has convened a Civil Society Working Group on non-communicable diseases to strengthen civil society contribution to combat NCDs. In this regard, the WHO has appointed the WCC programme executive for Health and Healing, Dr Mwai Makoka, to this working group.

As Sweden prepares for a visit from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch and Antje Jackelén, archbishop of the Church of Sweden, signed a joint editorial for Swedish media.

“The church is a global network,” reads the joint editorial. “It has a presence around the world that is almost unsurpassed by any other organisation or movement.”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its commitment to supporting health and wellness in Africa before the 69th session of World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa. The regional committee, comprising health ministers from the 47 countries, is the governing body of the World Health Organization in the African region. The 69th session was held in Brazzaville, Congo from 19–23 August.

As of 25 April 2019, the WCC Annual Review 2018 is available for download online. The annual review records many of the WCC’s activities undertaken in 2018 and continuing into 2019.

Dr Cecile De Sweemer, who served as staff of the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1982 to 1986, died on the 27 November in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). De Sweemer, a Belgian medical doctor with a doctorate in International Health from Johns Hopkins University, with extensive experience in Asia and Africa, was a dedicated and compassionate physician.

Jesus was a healer, and from his first followers to now, in all ages and regions, Christians have been distinguished by their compassionate, often heroic, work for health and healing.

Marking 40 years since the World Health Organization’s “Alma-Ata Declaration” that launched primary health care, a special anniversary issue of Contact magazine examines the role of faith-based organizations in developing and implementing the declaration and its principles – and exploring the challenges that remain to achieve “health for all”.

The year 1948 was historical not only for the founding of the World Council of Churches, but also for the launch of its neighbour down the road in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WCC is mourning the death of Calle Almedal, a great friend of WCC and of all faith communities, as well as a pioneer in the field of HIV. Almedal passed away on 7 June.