As the World Council of Churches (WCC) focuses on final preparations for the upcoming WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, WCC moderator Dr Agnes Abuom offered some personal reflections on her leadership role within the WCC, the importance of ecumenical work, the loss of ecumenical luminary Metropolitan Gennadios of Sasima, and the most vital part of her own Christian faith.
Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches
Peace is a Treasure for All: An Ecumenical Reflection on Peacebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Violence
Migrants and Refugees: Ecumenical Challenges and Opportunities
These Study Documents to the JWG 10th Report—Walking, Praying and Working Together, together with the report, encourage intensive ecumenical cooperation of all Christians and people of goodwill, with a particular emphasis on the contributions that can be made by the WCC and the RCC together.
Over 100 delegates and participants to the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly from African churches gathered virtually during an Africa region pre-assembly on 29-30 July to pray, share, discern, reflect and prepare for the assembly, which will be held in Karlsruhe, Germany from 31 August-8 September.
In the world today, border is far from a neutral or natural notion. Depending on the context of interpretation, it evokes different thoughts and emotions. For some, it may recall an expensive wall of xenophobia. For others, it could mean a gateway to safety and refuge, or the relentless defense against hostile aggressors. As we ponder the theme “Christ’s love (re)moves borders,” we shall begin by asking: What are borders? At a time when world powers are trying to change borders by force, what does it mean for Christ’s love to (re)move borders? And, ultimately, how do we discern between ideological pacifism and true unity?
As he visited the Holy Land from 14-17 July, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca wanted church leaders to know that their perspective will be heard at the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany.
After being received by representatives of the churches managing the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem on 15 July, President Joseph Biden was accompanied on a short tour to the site of the birth of Christ, where he was awaited by Patriarch Theophilos III, the Custos Father Patton, and the Armenian Orthodox Patriarch Norahan Manugian, all of whom took Biden on a tour and exchanged discussion with him in the presence of a number of Palestinian officials.
In a joint letter to President Joe Biden, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance urged that he find ways in which the intended purposes of sanctions can be pursued without harm being inflicted on ordinary Syrians.
In a joint letter to President Joe Biden, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance urged that he find ways in which the intended purposes of sanctions can be pursued without harm being inflicted on ordinary Syrians.
As protests grow across the world over the senseless loss of migrants’ lives, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reiterated its call for the right to life for migrants, particularly in the wake of the tragic loss of lives at the Morocco-Spain border as well as in Texas (USA).
Rev. Dr Hanns Lessing, from the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, is acting general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. He moderated a confessional meeting of reformed and united churches at the meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee. Below, he shares highlights from the meeting.
Organised by the Geneva Interfaith Forum during the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, the event addressed the importance of defending the rights of persons who are forced to move in the context of climate change.
On 20 May 2022, a group of us, 14 pilgrims from different parts of the world (Kenya, Brussels, Germany, Hong Kong, Philippines, Poland, Rome, Korea, Canada, Fiji, Australia, London, Scotland, and Geneva—a very diverse group) gathered in Palermo, Italy for a Pilgrim Team Visit on the theme of migration.
When Rekiatu Musa Jingi, an investigative journalist and human rights advocate in Cameroon, shares her learnings about reporting on migrants, she’s speaking from both her heart and her mind: “I learned how to get and how to conduct great interviews and how to take good pictures and videos without victimizing anybody.”
From 31 May to 3 June, representatives from the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace Reference Group, Working Group on Climate Change, and the Young People in the Ecumenical Movement of the World Council of Churches formed a Pilgrim Team Visit to indigenous Sami communities in the south of Norway.
All are invited to celebrate the result of the World Association for Christian Communication’s (WACC) five-month, cross-regional journalist training program on migration and refugee issues via an online presentation on 9 June.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, convening via videoconference from 30 May to 2 June, continued the work of planning for the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe even while the members mourned the loss of longtime ecumenical luminary Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima.
The World Council of Churches, in a public statement, is urging the government of the United Kingdom to reconsider the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership.
On Thursday 14 April 2022, the United Kingdom and Rwanda announced a new Migration and Economic Development Partnership. Through this partnership, asylum-seekers who are already on UK soil can be transferred to Rwanda, where their asylum claims will be processed. Though UK government officials claim that the agreement “fully complies with all national and international law, including the UN Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights”, many reputable human rights organizations as well as senior church leaders in the UK have criticized it.
Three World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrim Team Visits, one to Italy, a second to Armenia and a third to Norway, are continuing the WCC’s accompaniment for communities in their quest for justice and peace under the theme of “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity,” through the lenses of post-war trauma healing, gender justice, and migration.