The Global Christian Forum, with its fourth global gathering underway in Ghana, is marking its 25thanniversary at a time when the world is in dire need of justice, reconciliation, and unity.
Reinforcing the traditional role of faith communities in offering sanctuary and, indeed hospitality to refugees, 90 faith-based leaders today committed to offering their continued and additional support to refugees, including children, on their journey to safety, including in reception and admission, meeting protection or service delivery needs and supporting communities to find solutions such as private sponsorship or scholarship programmes.
Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the WCC Town-Hall Discussion on Interfaith Dialogue, Climate Change, and Refugee Displacement - at the Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees, Ecumenical Center, Geneva, Switzerland 12 December 2023.
Message of the H.E. Archbishop Dr Aykazian Vicken, Vice-moderator of the WCC central committee at the "Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees" event at the Ecumenical Center, Geneva, Switzerland 12 December 2023.
I am glad that we have the opportunity to gather online today. Thanks to each and everyone who invests time and efforts to attend, especially those of you who are attending at very inconvenient hours, late night, or very early morning.
Thanks to the staff for preparing the agenda so well and keeping us all well informed and prepared for our meetings. We all know about the limitations off gathering online. I am therefore very glad that we hopefully will meet in real life in February, in Indonesia.
The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe, at its General Assembly held in Rome on 6-8 November, published a message entitled “Protect people, protect our humanity." The message acknowledged the immense work being done by churches and other people of good will all over Europe.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) shared joyful greetings on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Argentine Commission for Refugees and Migrants (CAREF).
A public online celebration and panel discussion on 31 August, “They too were Gathered: Paying homage to Black people’s contributions to 75 years of World Council of Churches (WCC),” uncovered the contributions of Black people from different parts of the world in the formation and growth of the WCC.
As churches in the southern hemisphere closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 28 May, they brought final reflections to this year’s theme of “Do good; seek justice (Isaiah 1:17).”
Aa the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity opened on 18 January, the World Council of Churches staff and partners gathered in a spirit of unity to “Do good; seek justice,” the theme of this year’s special week.
‘Behold I create new heavens in which life, justice and peace are possible for all’.
(Isaiah 65:17-25)
Indigenous Peoples are created with God-given identities that are beautiful. God was present in their lands and among their peoples before colonizers arrived. When Christians brought the Bible, Indigenous People recognized the voice of their Creator in Jesus’ teachings. They did not hear a call to reject their identities.
“Affirming justice and human dignity” was the theme of the fourth thematic plenary of the World Council of Churches(WCC) 11th assembly on 6 September. The presentation featured a wheelchair dance performance by Fadi El Halabi, a wheelchair user and Ms. Karen Abi Nader, an international artist. In the freestyle dance, Halabi effortlessly spinned around his wheelchair and, with slow coordinated moves together with his dance partner, threw hands in the air symbolizing the joy that can only be felt when all exclusionary and disempowerment practices in church and society are addressed.
Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests —at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications —welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
On 20 May 2022, a group of us, 14 pilgrims from different parts of the world (Kenya, Brussels, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Poland, Rome, Korea, Canada, Fiji, Australia, London, Scotland, and Geneva—a very diverse group) gathered in Palermo, Italy for a Pilgrim Team Visit on the theme of migration.
Ekaterina E. wears the human face of statelessness every day.“Statelessness is about expulsion from the human community” she says, “for me personally, being stateless means I have been separated from my mother for nearly 30 years now.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is mourning the death of Sarah Newland Martin, known for her lifetime of advocacy for persons with disabilities, for her leadership with the YMCA and Jamaica Baptist Union, and her ecumenical bridge-building.
The Central Mediterranean route is the overseas crossing from North Africa to Italy. Those migrating on this route generally aim to reach Italian shores but leave from a variety of North African countries bordering the Mediterranean. Though in past years most migrants have departed from Libya, which is a destination for migrants as well as a transit country, there is also a proportionally small but growing number of departures from Tunisia, Egypt, and Algeria.
At a pre-assembly planning meeting and informal networking session, the Karlsruhe local assembly office hosted a programme on 17 May to discuss the current status of planning for the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly. More than 150 people attended.
