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Working conditions for millions of workers in the informal economy, especially migrants and seasonal workers, tend to escape legal regulations and even fail to meet basic human rights standards. The state as well as the church has a big responsibility regarding the most vulnerable of workers, found participants in a workshop on the protection of workers in an informal economy yesterday at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel was launched by the WCC in 2002 based on an appeal from local church leaders to create an international presence in the country. So far, more than 1,800 ecumenical accompaniers have worked to create conditions for a just peace.

Christianity is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world says Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi, Professor of Ecumenical Biblical Hermeneutics at the Ecumenical Institute, Bossey. He was the convener of a discussion on the Anthology of African Christianity held by the WCC on 15 February with a panel of experts at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

He earned the title “Green Patriarch” as a religious leader addressing alarming environmental issues over at least two decades. In 2008, Time Magazine named His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as one of 100 Most Influential People in the World, for “defining environmentalism as spiritual responsibility”.

From social and diaconal action, to liturgical life, pastoral care, and theological reflection, churches are responding and adapting to the movement of migrants within Europe and beyond its borders. A recent consultation convened by the Conference of European Churches, Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and WCC took place in Copenhagen from 8 to 10 December 2016.

When the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa re-joined the WCC in June after 55 years, other churches in the country rejoiced at “the return of the prodigal son”. The church, started in the 17th century by European settlers in southern Africa, was once referred to as “the National Party at prayer” so closely tied was its doctrine to the racist ideology of apartheid, and its influence reaching into the cabinet.

The visit of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, H.E. Professor Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, to the World Council of Churches (WCC) last week brought together two premier institutions strongly oriented to leadership in peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue.

Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Christian and Buddhist religious leaders met this week in Assisi to discuss peace, while across the ocean in New York City global political leaders assembled at the United Nations also focussed on a troubled world.

In a public statement adopted on 28 June, the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has designated “peace-building in the context of religion and violence” as the special thematic focus for 2017.

On Sunday 19 June a suicide bomber attacked an Assyrian genocide commemoration event in the al-Wusta district of Qamishli, Syria, in which Patriarch Aphrem II Karim of the Syriac Orthodox Church was presiding. The attacker was prevented from entering the venue of the event, but detonated his bomb, killing himself and three members of the security forces and wounding five

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches expressed “shock, outrage and sadness” over the tragic events in Orlando, Florida on Sunday 12 June 2016. In what is said to be the worst mass shooting in US history, 50 people are reported to have lost their lives and 53 more were wounded in an attack by a single gunman.

On his way to a Peace-building and Reconciliation Consultation in Johannesburg, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary stopped off to visit South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.

WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, went to Cape Town to talk with Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, the former leader of the Anglican church during the turbulent apartheid days.

The Anglican Communion needs to be “aware of the great crises of our times,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has said in a presidential address to members of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Lusaka, Zambia.

Press and media are cordially invited to attend a public panel discussion on “European identity and values: an exploration”.

Hope is both an inspiration and a criterion for advocacy, reflected Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, in a keynote lecture offered at the General Nordic Conference on Systematic Theology in Helsinki. The conference took place from 7 to 10 January.

Addressing a Council for World Mission Theological Colloquium in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and president of the Lutheran World Federation affirmed the “need of a spirituality that helps us remain steadfast, that gives us the courage to act not with hatred and revenge, but in the pursuit of peace based on justice”.

An international conference held at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Nikos Kotzias, has gathered around 70 prominent religious, political and academic figures in Athens, Greece, this week.

The centenary of the birth of the late ecumenical leader and Indian theologian Dr M.M. Thomas (1916–1996) was celebrated in a seminar at his home state in Kerala, India.

In a solidarity letter to Abune Mathias, patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, a member church of the WCC, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the WCC general secretary expressed deep shock over the recent killing of more than 20 Ethiopian Christians in Libya by the so called Islamic State.

Authentic discipleship in mission and evangelism, hospitality, justice and inclusiveness emerged as significant topics in a recent meeting of members of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. These topics will influence the theme of the World Mission Conference which is planned to be held in 2018.