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Korean Peninsula is focus in ‘A light of peace’ campaign for nuclear free world

The Korean Peninsula needs “A light of peace” as tensions there escalate again, and on Sunday 3 December the World Council of Churches (WCC) launches a campaign for a north Asian region and a world free of nuclear weapons. It is the first Sunday of Advent when Christians begin a period of sacrifice in preparation to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Conference on Korea crisis strengthens resolve to avoid nuclear war

"The world must listen to the people of Korea. They do not want war. They want peace.” Those are the words of Rev. Frank Chikane, moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, as he reflected what was on the minds of several dozen people from all over the world who attended a videoconference on the Korea crisis on 5 October.

The whole world is praying for peace on the Korean Peninsula

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is the latest participating organization to announce it will join, on 13 August, a “Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula.”

Churches across the world are invited to show solidarity with Korean churches by joining the prayer, based on Romans 14:19: “Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”

WCC leaders express concern over situation on the Korean peninsula

Following the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the WCC is calling on all parties involved in the current situation on the Korean peninsula – especially South Korea, North Korea, the USA, Japan and China – to “invest in initiatives to reduce tensions, to promote dialogue and to encourage negotiations for an end to the suspended state of war, and for peaceful co-existence on the Korean peninsula, rather than measures that increase the risk of catastrophic conflict“, according to WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

“The world must be freed of nuclear weapons”

“The first thing that is required of us is to live the courage of our convictions. For the World Council of Churches, our conviction is that the world must be freed of nuclear weapons,” said the Rev. Dr Sang Chang, WCC president for Asia, in her address at the Nuclear Disarmament Symposium held in Hiroshima.

WCC encourages churches to pray on Hiroshima Day

As an ecumenical delegation to Japan participates in Hiroshima Day observances on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing, the WCC has published a liturgical resource and invites churches around the world to join in prayer.

German bishop pledges ecumenical push for prohibition of nuclear weapons

Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and a member of the church leaders’ pilgrimage to Japan on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings, pressed the case for the Humanitarian Pledge against nuclear weapons at the Hiroshima Day rally on 6 August 2015.