Search results

How can religious education promote good relationships in the community?
Consultation for educators in religion
Aya Napa, Cyprus
29 November - 4 December, 2001

World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, South Africa, 26 August - 7 September 2001

The WCC general secretary sent an ecumenical delegation to Jerusalem and the West Bank from 27 June to 1 July 2001 to meet with the Patriarchs and Heads of Christian Communities in Jerusalem as well as key local clergy and laity, church-related and ecumenical organisations including Israeli and Palestinian human rights and peace activists. This was an exploratory and consultative mission as part of a preparatory process for an international ecumenical meeting to be convened in Geneva.

Statement issued by Konrad Raiser

Second report by the Policy Reference Committee at the WCC Central Committee meeting in Potsdam, 2001.

WCC programme on Interreligious dialogue and cooperation

This document has been published by the World Council of Churches and other partners, including Islamic organisations and specialised journals. It is the fruit of a Muslim-Christian meeting held in Amersfoort, Netherlands in November 2000. Convened by the World Council of Churches, it took stock of the various Christian-Muslim dialogue initiatives of this organisation since 1991. During the last nine years, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, educators and activists have discussed the thorny and sometimes divisive issues of religion, law and society, human rights, religious freedom, community rights, mission and da'wa and communal tensions. This document draws largely on their questions, reflections and conclusions.

Consultation report of a 19-23 October 2000 consultation in Geneva on "Concepts of teaching and learning in religions: teaching Christianity in dialogue with other faith traditions", held in cooperation with the German Comenius Institute

"At this point in history, two main trends - globalization and pluralism - are the focus of the ecumenical movement, and are decisive elements influencing societies and all areas of education all over the world. Both trends present challenges and opportunites for intercultural and interreligious exchange and learning."

Letter from the participants in a multifaith consultation on religious education held in Bangkok 11-15 October, 2000, to colleagues engaged in religious education within all our religious communities and in educational institutions.

Background paper on the status of Jerusalem presented to the Executive Committee.

The report results from seven years' work by a dedicated group drawn from the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. The character of the document is intentionally educational. The group believed that it would in this way best serve the interest of all who wish to know not only the Joint Working Group's agenda but the growing relationship of the WCC and the RCC within the broader perspective of the one ecumenical movement which the group has witnessed and in some measure assisted.

From 7-10 May 1997, twenty-seven men and women in cooperation with the World Council of Churches met in Geneva to consider together the possibility of a common understanding of the theological concepts of laity/laos/the people of God. We talked about the present situation and future challenges to the Christian churches. The meeting was chaired by Fr Nicholas Apostola (Romanian Orthodox Church) and Dr Anne Tveter (Lutheran). It was organized by Evelyn Appiah, Executive Secretary of the Stream of Lay Participation towards Inclusive Community.

WCC Central Committee
Geneva, Switzerland, 14-22 September 1995
STATEMENT ON THE STATUS OF JERUSALEM

David K. Yemba, current moderator of the Faith and Order Commission and Dean of the Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe, discusses the content and reception of Faith and Order work in Africa, and the effect of African churches on the ecumenical movement in general.

In 1979 the WCC produced a document entitled "Guidelines on Dialogue with People of Living Faiths" which sought to identify and discuss the major practical and theological issues in interfaith relations. While it addressed some of the overall aspects, it recognized the need for more specific "guidelines" or ecumenical considerations on Christian relations with each of the major faith communities in the world. This document results from the attempt to follow this up in the area of Christian-Muslim relations. It draws on the experience gained from the considerable work carried out over the years. All the meetings between Christians and Muslims organized by the sub-unit on Dialogue during the past twenty years have been documented in the WCC publication "Meeting in Faith". These meetings, however, are only a small part of a much richer history of relations and numerous dialogue encounters in many places. The document that follows is itself based on five regional meetings between Christians and Muslims organized in different parts of the world. These meetings helped to identify some of the important issues which Christians and Muslims need to reflect on and continue to consider together in the years ahead. Many qualified persons in the field of Christian-Muslim relations were consulted in the process.

The following prayer authored by Christian, Jewish and Muslim clergy was used in many places in inter-religious worships around the time of the Gulf War in 1991.

The Dialogue sub-unit of the WCC undertook a four-year study programme on 'My Neighbour's Faith and Mine - Theological Discoveries through Interfaith Dialogue'. As the apex of this study, delegates from the Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions were brought together to reflect on some of these issues. A week of intense discussions centred on questions such as the significance of religious plurality, christology, and the issues in understanding the activity of the Spirit in the world. The document which follows is a statement made by the members of this consultation, which was held in Baar, near Zurich, Switzerland in January 1990. It is hoped that the statement will help to animate and facilitate the discussion of these important issues as we face the Seventh Assembly in Canberra in February 1991.