As World Heath Day—observed 7 April annually—approaches, the World Council of Churches is inviting people across the world to join in prayers and reflections.
With the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we pray for the people and churches of Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria.
World Health Day is April 7 when the World Health Organization commemorates its 76th anniversary. This year the theme is 'My Health, My Right, which reminds us to advocate for equitable access to health services and work towards a healthier, more inclusive world.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), on 12 February, submitted comments to the zero draft of the “Pact for the Future,” the envisaged outcome of the UN Summit for the Future.
During a visit to Angola held 21-28 January, World Council of Churches (WCC) staff met with local church and community leaders to discuss how preventing obstetric fistula is a matter of human rights.
In the lively urban setting of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, theologians, church delegates, activists, and individuals attending the Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics, and Management for an Economy of Life (GEM School) came together between August 21 and 23. They convened for a deep and meaningful discussion at the NIFEA Consultation on Labour.
World Council of Churches (WCC) programme director for Public Witness and Diakonia Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata delved into the heart of “Theology of Work” in a keynote address during the opening of the New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) Consultation on Labour, being hosted 21-23 August by the National Council of Churches in Malaysia.
From 2020 to 2021, more than 50 million people were displaced due to weather events and faced risks of trafficking and even death as well as discrimination based on race and gender. This finding emerged from the report of Ian Fry, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, to the 53rd session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva from 19 June-14 July.
Below, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, World Council of Churches (WCC) director of Public Witness and Diakonia, reflects on the relevance of ecumenical diakonia and public witness today.
Dr Stuart J. Kingma, who worked in the Christian Medical Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 1975 to 1984, passed away on 19 December at the age of 88 years.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)
When approaching the issue of health and wellbeing, we as Christians and churches affirm that the giver and sustainer of life is our Lord Jesus Christ, the healer of our bodies and souls, the one who heals our diseases, who redeems our life from the pit and crowns us with love and compassion (Ps. 103:3-4).
The World Council of Churches (WCC) had a pivotal place at a conference organized by the Foundation Dialogue for Peace in Geneva, drawing international speakers that would gladden the organizers of any world gathering as they interlinked trying to feed and heal people and get peace during war.
During a virtual press conference on 13 December, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined leaders from the global faith community in releasing a letter signed by 115 organizations, representing five world faith traditions, calling on World Trade Organization member countries to act before year’s end to waive Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights rules. The faith community spotlighted the moral necessity of increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
A symposium exploring the complex question of misleading theologies in Africa ended here on 24 November, amid concerns that the phenomenon was harming the efforts to combat coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other diseases.
In a 15 October letter to US president Joe Biden, leaders from the World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, Council of Churches in Cuba, and other faith-based groups urged an end to nearly 60 years of embargo against the Cuban people, who are facing an appalling humanitarian situation.
Address of Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches at the meeting of WCC, EKD, German Federal Foreign Office and TransAtlantic Network, 13 October 2021
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.
Background material to the WCC statement "Call to overcome global injustice and inequity, to defeat the global COVID-19 pandemic", adopted by the World Council of Churches Executive committee, 17-20 May 2021
With more than 312 million doses of vaccine having been administered by 9 March 2021, we pray for an equitable distribution of vaccines, especially in low-income countries, so that people everywhere will be protected.
