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The fellowship and unity that Jesus’ disciples once experienced praying together during a time of fear in Jerusalem at Pentecost “spelled a new beginning” for the mission of the Church, the general secretary of the WCC has reminded Christians worldwide from the Holy Land.

Reconciliation was once primarily seen as a message of the church but is now used by secular leaders trying to establish peace in communities torn by conflict and war, the WCC president for Africa, the Rev. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel, has said at a major Protestant gathering in Germany.

As Berit Hagen Agöy visited St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Cairo, Egypt last week, her sadness was mixed with hope.

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.

The WCC this week installed at its headquarters in Geneva a tapestry of traditional Palestinian embroidery donated to the WCC.

Bishop Munib Younan of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land was named a recipient of the Niwano Peace Prize for his work toward interreligious dialogue among Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Jerusalem and worldwide.

As Christians worldwide await the arrival of the Holy Child in late December, children in Bethlehem have been playing a particular role in preparation of the WCC's Christmas message this year.

The ecumenical dialogue between churches has a long and fruitful history. But since war and terrorism are threatening the existence of churches in the Middle East, Christians of this region feel more and more neglected by their Western partners.

The story shared by Fr Yakoub Babawe of the Oum-El-Nour Relief Committee of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Iraq’s city of Erbil moved and challenged participants at a recent meeting in Beirut.

As Christians around the globe begin to commemorate 500 years of Reformation, a ceremony has been held in Vatican City in honor of Lutheran World Federation (LWF) president Bishop Munib Younan, from the Evangelical Luthern Church In Jordan and the Holy Land.

When the WCC joined the Blue Communities Project on 25 October, water and eco-justice advocates from around the world offered congratulations, while at the same time urging WCC member churches to join the quest for global water and sanitation rights.

A visit to the al-Za'atari refugee camp, currently hosting more than 80,000 people fleeing from conflict in Syria, was a life-changing experience for members of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) who met recently in Amman, Jordan.

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) held its 11th General Assembly this week, bringing leaders from regional churches together to pursue a unified ecclesiastical voice in the midst of human suffering that is permeating the region.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief and the WCC are planning joint action on refugee rights now that the Canadian church agency has been approved for WCC membership. Plans are for CLWR to collaborate with WCC on advocacy initiatives through the Ecumenical United Nations Office in New York.

Every morning a cheerful and articulate man arrives at his office in East Jerusalem with at least a grain of hope. Dr Bernard Sabella has devoted his entire life to the rights of the Palestinian people. In his job as the executive director of Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees, he encounters issues concerning the Palestinian-Israeli relationship daily.

During the 29 years Virgine Nasrawi has worked in the Talbiah refugee camp, located 40 kilometers south of Amman, the Jordanian capital, she has witnessed many changes. And the sudden influx of refugees from neighbouring Syria, caused by the devastating civil war in that country, is the most dramatic.

Leaders from churches in the Holy Land met with the heads of faith-based organizations and churches in Atlanta, Georgia (United States) on 19-20 April for a summit that explored the role of US churches in peacemaking in the Middle East.

For Hind Khoury the issue of water justice is quite simple. She believes there is no water justice in Palestine because access to clean water for drinking and sanitation exists in Israel but not in the Palestinian territories it occupies.

When Palestinian Bishop Munib Younan talks about the thirst, he links it with a quest for justice in both Palestine and Israel.

Participants in a recent conference on the refugee crisis in Europe, hosted by the WCC, said they felt energized by the reports from a multitude of activities undertaken by churches from Lebanon to Finland through Serbia, Greece and Germany.