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COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh is over. Numerous reports have all pointed out that if we don't cut the emissions of greenhouse gases radically and immediately, we will not keep the global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees. Therefore, the emissions must drastically decrease in the coming decades if we want to avoid severe consequences for our home, planet Earth.

As a Pentecostal, I have “dreamed dreams” and had visions aplenty, but often it has been the WCC that brought those dreams and visions to life. What is found in this report fulfills a vision that I took with me to Geneva in 1989 in a meeting with then-general secretary Emilio Castro. During that visit, I called on the WCC to bring together 120 Pentecostal scholars from around the world to the WCC 7th Assembly known as Canberra ’91.

When it comes to disability, the argument that reigns in society is that of a limited human being, and when it comes to a condition such as deafness, the conversation at homes, institutions and even in churches all around the world defines one model: not only of a quiet, silent and mute human being—but an invisible participant.

Bishop Emeritus Munib Younan from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land:

It is Easter 2020.

This is the commemoration of both the crucifixion and the resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is the source of our liberation but also of our praise and joy, especially in this time of the coronavirus crisis.

'I think it is the same for us now. It is enough that we are reflecting and praying, it is enough that we are listening to the voice of God, and the God of love will always be with us in our homes, in our churches, and our workplaces. The Risen Christ will bring us peace in our homes, and grants us hope in a hopeless situation, bringing us life and life abundantly.'

When the UN general secretary, António Guterres, called for a Climate Summit during the opening days of the 2019 General Assembly, he placed extraordinary focus on youth. That was natural, since the greenhouse gas emissions of today will be affecting the world of tomorrow. And the world of tomorrow is in the hands of the children of today.

On April 19, the evening of Good Friday in Atlanta, I was putting my son to bed when I received a phone call from my brother, Johan, in Sri Lanka. Our dad, Stanley John Sahabandhu, had passed away in his home in the Western Province.

Statistics about TB in children make shocking reading, especially because TB is preventable and curable. Religious leaders and faith communities have an opportunity to speak out and demand action is taken by their governments and by the international community.

The effects of certain types of experiences do not fade with time; rather they permeate deep into your existence to further broaden your understanding about the realities of life. For me the first Christian-Confucian Dialogue initiated by the World Council of Churches at South Korea was one such experience. It will stay with me for a long time and I will time travel back and forth from it to understand the complexities of inter-religious discussions.

World Interfaith Harmony Week 2017 is coming to an end and I wonder how many people are even aware that it exists, especially in my country, Indonesia. Indonesia presents a unique situation when it comes to interfaith relations. On the one hand, it’s been deemed an example of religious tolerance. On the other hand, it has seen many cases of extreme religious violence. Not to mention the fact that the government only recognizes six “official” religions, and every citizen is required to choose one of them – as it is noted down in our identity cards.

When you choose to join the ecumenical movement, it means you'll never stop moving. You need to always find a new perspective of life, to share your faith to all people that you'll met in your journey. It also means you'll never stop learning, from all things that you encounter, good or bad. And it means you should never stop sharing about your ecumenical movement so the people you meet can start their own ecumenical journey.

"Unterwegs für das Leben," on the road for life, was the name chosen for an initiative started by the women's work section of the Evangelical Church in Baden in the eighties. Christian women went walking together along the Rhine from Karlsruhe to Basel, going from place to place in order to collect signatures in opposition to the upgrading of armaments and to hand these over to the disarmament conference in Geneva. The walk was combined with evening peace prayer vigils held in local churches.

When first I lived in Europe as a teenager during the 1960s, western culture was less homogenized than it is today. One didn’t see the same high-street boutiques in all airports everywhere. Not only that… Imagine Western Europe without a single McDonald's.

The summer in Korea is a lush and attractive season for vacationers. Yet it is far more than that. It is a period haunted by heavy historical memories. June 25 marks the day of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950; July 27, the day of the conclusion of armistice in 1953; and August 15, the day of liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945, which immediately led to the division between North and South by the Soviet Union and the United States.

The YATRA training (Youth in Asia Training for Religious Amity), organized each year by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with the Cambodia-based Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS), is an opportunity for young Christians from different countries of Asia to learn about other religions of their contexts and become involved in the “pilgrimage of justice and peace” which the WCC Assembly had called for in 2013. This year, there were 25 young people gathered in Siam Reap, Cambodia, for two weeks of living and learning together.

After a long walk in the streets of Bethlehem, we finally had the chance to wander around in the market for a couple of hours. Each Palestinian had to be a leader for some of the youth that were in the group, so a South African, two Germans, and a Swede formed my group. While hanging around on the roads, we passed by some tourist buses. One of the youths who were with me said: “Wow, there are a lot of tourists in Bethlehem. I’m glad I’m not a tourist but a pilgrim!”

At our first meeting in South Africa, a few months before going to Sweden for the first part of the international youth pilgrimage “Walking to Emmaus”, we were exited to meet each other and to know that we would all be going on a plane. It was a first for all of us so I’m sure you would imagine the excitement you could see on our faces going down the terminal and into the aeroplane.