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It’s tough living at home in isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic watching those infected with the COVID-19 virus rise in numbers and the death toll climb. But think of the world’s refugees and people on the move.

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.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee raised prayers for an end to conflict and for peace in Syria, after more than eight tragic years of death, destruction and displacement.

As the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel commenced, Nora Carmi offered a morning reflection at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 16 September. Carmi is a civil society worker on justice and peace issues who is from the Orthodox community.

What might be termed “an authentic interreligious encounter” is also, more simply put, a question of what it means to belong. Eleven students at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Bossey Ecumenical Institute deeply explored this question as they completed a Certificate in Advanced Studies in Interreligious Studies course.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit hosted a lunch on 12 December in gratitude to the services rendered by the United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura at the Château de Bossey with ambassador Heidi Grau, Head of the human security division at the Swiss FDFA, and the UN and WCC teams on Syria.

Member churches of the 8th Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) General Assembly gathered in Basel, Switzerland on 13-18 September. The choice of the Basel Cathedral and the adjoining pre-Reformation Bishops Palace to meet suited well the historic moment on Switzerland’s Day of Prayer of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer.

This week the World Council of Churches Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland is ringing with scriptural sharing, research, and dialogue drawing together perspectives from Judaism, Christianity and Islam as students work to complete a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Interreligious Studies.

WCC Communication shares a brief overview of the Central Committee meeting held in Geneva on 15-21 June, 2018.

The Vatican and the World Council of Churches (WCC) on Tuesday revealed details of the 21 June landmark visit of Pope Francis, a visit the WCC described as “a gift to churches”.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 7 November at a Muslim World League symposium in Geneva entitled “The Role of Religions on the Strengthening of World Peace.”

"Ecumenical work is not nostalgia nor superficial use of metaphors. It is the hard work we do in mutual accountability to one another,” says WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his introduction to the WCC Annual Review 2016, which is now available in print and digital form online.

Working as a medical doctor in his home country Malawi seems to have given Dr Mwai Makoka ideal experience for his task of programme executive for Health and Healing at the WCC. He has experience in medical microbiology, HIV and AIDS, working for both government and church-based institutions after graduating as a doctor in Malawi, a country accustomed to working with church-run hospitals.

Churches are probably the most powerful global civil society group, and they need to live up to this responsibility in the quest for peace, says German bishop, Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm. Bedford-Strohm, chairperson of the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), was speaking at an event to promote peace in the Ecumenical Centre on 3 November.

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.

The role of religions in promoting peace and countering violence was discussed during a two-day dialogue between the Muslim Council of Elders and the WCC in Geneva, Switzerland from 30 September to 1 October. Two sessions of talks, hosted by the WCC, involved presentations and discussions on key aspects of peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue, paying special attention to combating religious extremism leading to violence in many parts of the world.

The Grand Imam of Cairo’s prestigious Al-Azhar mosque and university, Prof. Dr Ahmad al-Tayyeb, will visit the WCC to give a public lecture and participate in high-level dialogue on interreligious peacemaking. “We are honoured to welcome one of the world’s highest-ranking and most influential Muslim leaders to Geneva, and I very much look forward to his lecture and to sharing views with him on the many challenges that we as religious persons and leaders face together,” says WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Roman Catholic and WCC representatives are forging new ways of working together on today’s most pressing issues.