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Star power shines light on AIDS epidemic

Prince Harry, Elton John, Charlize Theron, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Bill Gates – royalty, celebrities, religious leaders and philanthropists joined scientists, politicians, health workers, and activists – all of whom include people of faith – at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban. At a time when “AIDS fatigue” deepens, affecting funding, awareness and capacity to respond, the stars help to put a media spotlight on the many challenges and injustices that remain.

Local work by faith-based groups key to ending AIDS

Getting more people tested and treated for HIV, caring for the sick, helping people understand how to care for themselves —these are the tasks of faith-based organizations (FBOs) helping people with HIV in local communities.

Abundant Life

The Churches and Sexuality

Often perceived as conservative and rigid, the churches have sometimes been barriers to people’s claiming their sexuality. Yet, in their response to the crisis posed by AIDS and HIV, Christian churches have also often challenged harmful cultural practices and surmounted that stereotype. Focusing on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), especially in African settings, this volume seeks to identify and cultivate the positive, indeed liberating, role that the churches must play.

Seven Weeks for Water 2015, week 5: "Prophetic voices coming from the Pachamama", by Veronica Flachier

The fifth biblical reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2015 is by Veronica Flachier, a journalist and theologian from Ecuador. She is a representative of the CLAI (Latin American Council of Churches) to the International Reference Group of the Ecumenical Water Network of the WCC and currently one of the co-chairs. In this reflection, she highlights that the water crisis we currently experience has been determined by the ambition of certain powerful corporations that formulate the rules in a world that is regulated by the logic of the consumer driven market, where not only water is a commodity, but so is the entirety of nature and even the human beings. Only by re-ordering the quality of the relationships in the frame of ethics and justice, can we dream of re-ordering our Pachamama – the mother earth.

WCC Programmes

Sustainability and environment: How the ecumenical movement helped mobilize ecology protest in East Germany

Churches and religious leaders are at the forefront of efforts to mobilize action for a legally binding agreement on world’s climate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris at the end of 2015. The motivation of the WCC for its role in this arena is summarized in the title of its environmental programme: Care for Creation and Climate Justice.

Christian responses on health and healing

Churches must commit themselves to create “healing and reconciling ministry that puts people at the centre and allow for a wholistic approach in health care”, states a declaration issued during an international symposium on “Christian Responses to Global Health and Development” in Tübingen, Germany.

Seven Weeks for Water 2014, week 6: "Mission as Breaking Ground: Jesus’ “I Thirst” and its Relevance Today", by Raj Bharath Patta

The sixth Biblical reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2014 is by Raj Bharath Patta, an ordained pastor from the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, currently serving the Student Christian Movement of India as its general secretary. He understands the fifth word of Jesus  on the Cross (“I thirst”), as expression of his physical need. In this reflection, Patta illustrates the missiological relevance of this word of Jesus to us today, in our own contexts.

WCC Programmes

Seven Weeks for Water 2014, week 3: "A pilgrimage towards water of life", by Guillermo Kerber

The third Biblical reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2014 is by Guillermo Kerber, the World Council of Churches programme executive for Care for Creation and Climate Justice. Based on a personal experience of a pilgrimage on water in the Bible, he underscores water as the “source of life” and introduces water as the protagonist of crucial moments in the history of people’s lives in the Bible.

WCC Programmes

Seven Weeks for Water 2014, week 2: "Water for Life", by Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm

The second Biblical reflection of the Seven Weeks for Water 2014 is by Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Germany. Citing  examples from the Bible, he highlights that water is absolutely necessary for life and that everybody has the right of free access to water for their sustenance,  irrespective of their economic status.

WCC Programmes