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In 1895, student leaders from ten North American and European countries met at Vadstena Castle in Sweden to form the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). Among its founders were John R. Mott (US), Karl Fries (Sweden), Martin Eckhoff (Norway), Luther D. Wishard (US), Johannes Siemsen (Germany), and J. Rutter Williamson (UK). The WSCF was the first international student organization and together with YMCA and YWCA, it is one of the oldest youth movements still in existence. 

A delegation from ACT Alliance  and the World Council of Churches (WCC) visited Hungary, Ukraine and Romania on 14-18 March, focusing on humanitarian needs and church response.

An Ecumenical Youth Gathering on 27-30 August will convene a circle of young agents of change for the ecumenical movement’s present and future just days before the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany. 

The Ecumenical Youth Gathering will comprise three tracks: one especially for young delegates to the WCC 11th Assembly, one for stewards, and one for representatives of WCC member churches and ecumenical partners.

 

A compilation of the most-read stories published by the World Council of Churches (WCC) reveals a global fellowship focused on a better future even amid the grave challenges the world faced during 2021.

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

Beate Fagerli, World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly coordinator, answers the most frequently asked questions about the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly in 2021.

Young people are trailblazers, pioneers, visionaries and leaders who have the potential to create a positive, sustainable legacy for future generations on a global scale.
On 12 August, International Youth Day, youth led a TED-style talk and discussion in Geneva, with five young speakers from different parts of the world, four virtually and one live. The stories and experiences shared connected them to theme “Transforming Education,” while inspiring the audience for a call to action.

The Shia Muslim student from Canada, the Presbyterian Christian student from India and some of their companions reluctantly set off for an early run on a chilly morning to the Geneva lakeside little knowing what sunrise would bring.

Behind Bali’s luxury hotels, sandy beaches and lush landscapes pampering tourists from all around the world, one finds a heartbreaking poverty, and its most vulnerable victims are children.

In his own words, Pope Francis said his pilgrimage this week to the United Arab Emirates wrote a "new page in the history of the dialogue between Christianity and Islam" and in promoting world peace based on brotherhood.

Representatives of UN agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization have spoken of how religious communities and churches can play a key part in ending violence in early childhood.

“Put your preconceived ideas about young people aside. Listen to them and hear what they are saying to you!” Michal Szymanczak of the World YMCA presented findings of a YMCA study, “One Million Voices” to participants at a seminar, "Sharing the faith in a multi-cultural and multi-faith world,” held at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

If women will not support each other to step up to the pulpit or become engaged in politics, then gender equality will not be a priority issue for leaders both in the church and in government, says Eppie Marecheau, Christian educator and president of the Christian Council for Caribbean Women. In July, she participated in a seminar organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN), at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

Church must be a safe place where sinners are welcome to learn and change, and where the wounded can share their pains and find refuge, says Maria Dous, a medical student from Egypt. In July, she participated in a seminar organized by the Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network at the WCC's Ecumenical Institute Bossey.

The Grand Imam of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar mosque and university, Prof. Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb, will visit the WCC to give a public lecture and participate in high-level dialogue on interreligious peacemaking. “We are honoured to welcome one of the world’s highest-ranking and most influential Muslim leaders to Geneva, and I very much look forward to his lecture and to sharing views with him on the many challenges that we as religious persons and leaders face together,” says WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Women and children figure prominently as refugees in mass movements of people in recent months and their rights will be at the forefront of a summer school organized in Greece by the Conference of European Churches.