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Three World Council of Churches (WCC) commissions meeting this week at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva have elected vice moderators.

The environment doesn't give to us; we provide to the environment, said Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas, coordinator of the Network of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Pastoral Health Care. Kofinas, the new moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Health and Healing, spoke on 5 March, during a discussion by three WCC commissions.

In a pastoral letter to the Korean Christian Federation, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed “very deep Christian concern” over the COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grave concern about a major humanitarian crisis following the emergence of COVID-19 in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Authorities have acknowledged the deaths of at least 50 people and that 1.2 million suspected cases – or almost 5% of the entire population – are being monitored.

A Women of Faith Pilgrim Team gathered, some in person and others virtually, in South Korea from 13-15 July. They were there to listen and accompany Korean church women as they called for an end to patriarchy – manifested in the Japanese colonization of Korea and establishment of ‘comfort women’ and also in the Korean War — and to the resulting pain and injustice that remains a grim daily reality for many today.

The National Council of Churches (USA) has joined with other humanitarian and human rights organizations in writing the US Congress to urge that obstacles keeping nongovernmental organizations from addressing the “devastating potential for COVID-19’s spread” within the nation of North Korea be removed.

A webinar on churches’ ministry online will bring inspiration and knowledge to churches who want to develop their online ministry, discovering how we continue to pray and worship together in times of pandemic.

Prof. Christoph Stückelberger is president and founder of globethics.net. This interview was first published and produced in German by Reformiert.info

On Tuesday, 31 March at noon, Central European time, a panel of experienced church leaders and medical experts goes on air to address the global challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic from a medical, moral, and spiritual perspective. Moderated by outgoing World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, the televised 60-minute session is accessible via the WCC website.

As the world grapples with the spread of the new coronavirus, churches are finding ways to continue their traditions, but now by virtual means. On the coming Sabbath, churches around the world will engage in prayer, not publicly – as the church moves out of big public buildings – but inside the private spaces of homes.

In the past several months, beginning with an epidemic that quickly became an emergency situation, COVID-19 has escalated into a global crisis, spreading fear and uncertainty everywhere.

The WCC, via a specific landing page on its website, is reaching out to the worldwide fellowship with a sense of pastoral care amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, addressed young people attending an Eco-School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, noting that large numbers of people in Asia don’t have access to safe drinking water.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), with the Korea Institute for National Unification, reflected on international cooperation for improvement of human rights and ecumenical cooperation for diakonia ministry in North Korea.