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In an official statement issued on 12 October, the WCC has expressed grave concern over the dramatic escalation of the conflict in Syria.

It was a day of “looking forward” when church leaders, journalists and communications experts gathered outside Beirut on 11 September for the one-day communications workshop at the General Secretariat of the Catholic Schools in Lebanon.

Reduction in and prevention of statelessness, and the protection of stateless people in the Middle East provided the focus of a workshop organized by the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon.

The WCC has welcomed the constructive new consensus emerging in the United Nations Security Council regarding the ongoing crisis in Syria, particularly the support given to the peace plan proposed by UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura.

A new initiative titled Ecumenical Institute for the Middle East is “promising and inspiring” in its attempt to train young Christians in ecumenical thought and history, according to Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

Members of the WCC Commission on Youth (ECHOS) visited the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate and Bishop Yohannes, president of the Bishopric of Social and Ecumenical Services.

They are there every day, each month of the year – as they have been for the last 13 years. They have become a natural element in the chaos of life in Israel and Palestine. Their presence is appreciated. They provide safety and stability. Their sole weapon is a pen, or a camera. They see and listen; they analyze and report back.

This Lenten season, the WCC invites its member churches to pray on Sunday 29 March for those affected by wars in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Egypt. The season of prayer is meant to revive hope from hopelessness, taking into account the vulnerability of minority communities and the threat of losing the diversity of the social fabric in this region.

To express solidarity with churches and people in Israel and Palestine, the leadership of the WCC Central Committee has undertaken a visit to Israel and Palestine from 7 to 12 March.

WCC has condemned recent attacks against a mosque in the West Bank and a Christian centre in Jerusalem that appear to be part of the series of so-called “price-tag” attacks by extremists.

Experiences of death and expulsion faced by some 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 are the subject of an exhibition titled “The Nakba” and hosted by the WCC at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The Arabic word Nakba means “catastrophe.”

A statement issued by the WCC Executive Committee on 25 November has made strong recommendations urging all countries to take special measures to protect and support refugees and displaced people from the Middle East, especially those from countries like Syria, Iraq and Israel-Palestine.

The role of religion is constructive in creating trust among communities, according to Espen Barth Eide, United Nations Special Adviser on Cyprus. “The religious communities can pave a way towards building a shared vision necessary for a common future of Cyprus,” he said.

The WCC general secretary has expressed concern and sadness over the attack on a synagogue in west Jerusalem on Tuesday 18 November. The incident has resulted in the killing of four Jewish worshippers, and the injury of others.

Amid the ongoing offensive by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which recently caused the destruction of the Armenian church and genocide memorial in Deir Zor, Syria – an incident condemned by the WCC – staff members of the council reflect on what such incidents may mean for Christians and other faith communities in the region.

Members of the WCC's Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network met in the Netherlands to develop a new statement with the working title "Gift of Being: Called to be a Church of All and for All". The new document is founded on the premise that persons with disabilities experience marginalization both in societies and in the church communities themselves.

Erik Lysén, director of International Affairs at the Church of Sweden, a member church of the WCC, has called the recognition of Palestine an important step towards the peace process.

Prayerful biblical reflections marked the end of the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel in a service on 29 September at the Ecumenical Centre chapel in Geneva, Switzerland.

Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt visited the WCC offices in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday 1 September. In the presence of representatives from ecumenical and international organizations, Tawadros participated in morning prayers followed by a meeting with staff and a conversation with the WCC general secretary.