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At the 50th meeting since its foundation in 1946, the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) decided to refocus, establishing four thematic working groups, in order better to respond to the needs of the member churches.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) Living Letters team has appealed to Nigeria's religious leaders to encourage people belonging to different ethnic and faith groups to take initiatives to promote lasting peace and harmony in violence-affected communities.

A team of church representatives from Europe, Latin America and Africa will pay a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in Uruguay and Bolivia from 9 to 16 July. A second team will visit the Democratic Republic of Congo at the same time.

Some forty-five religious, interfaith, and value-based organizations from five continents agreed to form a coalition to advance a "United Nations Decade for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding, and Cooperation for Peace." Coalition members expressed the hope that the UN Sixty-Fourth General Assembly, which will begin its deliberations in September 2009, will approve a resolution establishing such a decade from 2011-2020.

The Mumbai terrorist attacks and an IMF agreement that will negatively impact the poor set the tone for a World Council of Churches (WCC) Living Letters team visit to Pakistan from 24 November to 1 December.

Religious freedom and interreligious dialogue will be on the agenda of an international ecumenical delegation visiting Pakistan from 24 November to 1 December. The group will discuss how churches can help ease political and religions tensions with representatives from churches, the Muslim community and government officials.

Leaders of Sri Lanka's Buddhist majority expressed divergent views on resolving the ethnic conflict in their country, while speaking to a delegation led by Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches.

India and Sri Lanka, two South Asian countries that have seen alarming levels of violence in recent months and years, will receive a 16-23 October the visit of a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation headed by general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.

The need to "re-frame the religious dimensions" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a key goal of a 4-day international theological conference starting today in the Swiss capital, Bern. The conference involves some 65 theologians and church leaders from all over the world who are focusing on the issue of "Promised Land".

Some twenty Christian and Muslim women will meet 4-7 September in Gothenburg, Sweden, as part of a dialogue process labelled "Moving towards peace through religion". Hosted by the Diocese of Gothenburg of the Church of Sweden, the meeting follows one held last year in Teheran. The initiative is co-organized by the Iranian Institute for Interreligious Dialogue (IID) and the World Council of Churches (WCC).

By Carmen Molitor (*)

Challenges facing Christians today are too strong for a divided church, said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in Egypt recently as he called for church unity both locally and globally. Kobia was speaking during a 16-21 June visit to WCC member churches in the country.

In a wide ranging discussion at the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) the UN secretary general, H.E. Ban Ki-Moon and WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia found agreement for the two world bodies to work more closely on several global issues, particularly climate change.

A new World Council of Churches (WCC) initiative aimed at supporting Christians living in conflict situations around the world has begun. "When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers with it," Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the WCC said in a videotaped address to experts in international relations and ecumenical partners at a recent consultation held in Geneva, 8-10 December.

The United Nations and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate at a meeting between the general secretaries of both organizations held on 29 October at the UN headquarters in New York.

By Anto Akkara (*)

A free high resolution photo is available, see below

Free high resolution photo available, see below

At its first meeting since its appointment in February 2006, the WCC's executive committee has approved new programmatic directions for the Council and has endorsed a framework for activities in the coming years.

See WCC press release PR-05-65 of 19 October 2005