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#WCC70: Children in the Ecumenical Movement

Many ecumenical pioneers, including former WCC general secretary Philip Potter, were in a sense a product of the Sunday School movement. Ulrich Becker tells a story that seems to be in danger of being forgotten.

Rio: faith leaders affirm human dignity before the Olympic games

Representatives from over 25 faith expressions and from more than 30 civil society organizations gathered for a public event in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the opening week of the 2016 Olympic games to affirm the dignity of human beings and the planet Earth and the defense of human rights.

Swiss churches host ecumenical celebration in Lausanne

In an ecumenical celebration at the cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland, the WCC general secretary preached on the theme of the WCC’s upcoming Busan assembly. He encouraged churches to continue their journeys towards justice and peace.

WCC consultation in Beirut explores conciliar ecumenism

“Ecumenism is a quality of life that needs to be articulated in all aspects of a Christian’s life”, and “conciliarity is an essential nature of the church,” said Catholicos Aram I, head of the Holy See of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He was speaking to the audience at the World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Beirut, Lebanon.

Living Letters team visits Angola and Mozambique

A team of church representatives from Portugal, Switzerland and Brazil is paying a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society organizations in Angola and Mozambique from 18 to 28 July.

WCC solidarity team visit to strengthen Indonesian Christian efforts in overcoming violence

Churches working for peace in Indonesia - a country which over the last decades had to cope with repeated outbreaks of ethnic and religious conflicts, the integration of internally displaced people as well as refugees from outside its borders - will receive a solidarity visit of an international ecumenical delegation sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC) from 17 to 24 July. The delegation members (see list below) will learn about peace-building projects by Indonesian Christians and share experiences made in their own churches in Australia, USA, Germany, Korea and Sudan. After a general introduction in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, the delegation will split into two groups in order to visit different regions. While Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, has a tradition of tolerance, the regions of Central Sulawesi and the Moluccas have been the scene of Muslim-Christian fighting after 1998. Meetings on 18-20 July in Poso (Central Sulawesi) and Ambon (Moluccas) , including an encounter with Muslim leaders, will be an opportunity to learn about initiatives to tackle radicalism. From Sulawesi, the first group will travel on to Kupang in the western part of the Timor island, capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The province has seen a considerable influx of refugees and deportees following the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999. Meanwhile, the second group will pay a visit to West Papua , where tensions between the traditional Christian majority and Muslim migrants arriving from other Indonesian islands have led to "the emergence of new, exclusivist groups in both religious communities", according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group. Over the past years the WCC has also repeatedly expressed its concern over human rights violations against the indigenous people of Papua . On 24 July, both groups will be back in Jakarta for an evaluation session with the executive board of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), who hosts the visit. The ecumenical delegation is sent to Indonesia as "living letters" to express the solidarity of the WCC fellowship, which comprises 349 churches worldwide. Until 2010, several Living Letters visits take place each year throughout the world in the context of the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence in order to prepare for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011. Indonesia, the world's 4th most populous nation, is also the country with the biggest number of WCC member churches, 27 in total. Group visiting Poso and Kupang: