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Remembrance Day, observed 1 March, is a national holiday in the Marshall Islands that honors victims and survivors of nuclear testing done in the area in the 1950s.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), on 12 February, submitted comments to the zero draft of the “Pact for the Future,” the envisaged outcome of the UN Summit for the Future.

As its 12th General Assembly in Kanaky (New Caledonia) concluded, the Pacific Conference of Churches, in an outcome statement, expressed a vision for leading change through transformation. 

With a focus on the legacy of nuclear testing and climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is planning a pilgrimage visit to the Marshall Islands on 16-24 November.

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with Melissa Parke, the new executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The Christian Conference of Asia 15th General Assembly, in a statement, called for prayers for true peace on the Korean Peninsula. The statement also called upon governments to refrain from provocative statements and military actions, and prayed that permanent members of the UN Security Council continue to work together for reconciliation and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Speaking through reflections and a sermon during an international peace gathering in Berlin, World Council of Churches moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm reflected on how people of faith can work to overcome suffering in a wounded world.

Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, spoke on a nuclear weapons-free world during “The Audacity of Peace” gathering in Berlin.

Speaking on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at a “Churches Together South Australia” event on 13 August, WCC director of international affairs Peter Prove offered an address on “Imagining a Safer World.”

As 6 August and 9 August mark the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, the World Council of Churches joined the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and other religious and civic groups in urging nuclear-armed and nuclear umbrella states to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has offered input for the articulation of the UN’s “New Agenda for Peace," a process intended to update the world body’s approach to peace and security in the current global context. In its submission – which is inspired to a significant extent by the WCC 11th Assembly statement on “The Things That Make For Peace”– the WCC focused especially on the need for greater financial and practical support for peacebuilding at national and local levels, rather than for division and military confrontation.

More than 600 people attended the Ninth Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs, held online on 24 January. Exploring the theme “Securing People’s Wellbeing and Planetary Sustainability,” the symposium was organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and a coalition of faith-based and UN partners. The event featured UN officials, representatives of international faith-based organizations, and other experts on climate change, disarmament, and other relevant topics.

For the past 75 years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has announced how close it believes the world is to a nuclear attack. On 24 January, it has announced that we are only 90 seconds to midnight.

From 31 August to 8 September, thousands of Christians converged on the German city of Karlsruhe for the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, the first in Europe since Uppsala in 1968.

Recognizing the deep need for, “renewed dialogue within the ecumenical movement,” the WCC 11th Assembly released a statement “strongly affirming the commitment of the WCC and its member churches to peace making through inter-religious dialogue and cooperation at all levels,” and calling for a global ceasefire in all armed conflicts around the world.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) has facilitated churches’ engagement in a wide range of critical issues of the world since the last WCC Assembly in Busan, concluded the 58th meeting of the WCC CCIA, gathering church representatives in Johannesburg and online in the 75th anniversary year of the Commission’s creation.

A webinar on 18 October remembered past massacres in the Pacific, honoring the legacy and resilience of the victims. Speakers reflected on past massacres in Samoa, the Marshall Islands, and Kanaky, all of which took place during colonial times or during occupation.

A group of bikers from the Bike for Peace visited the World Council of Churches on 30 August as part of a commemoration in the Place de Nations. 

Stephen Brown is editor of The Ecumenical Review. Below, he reflects on the legacy of Phillip Potter, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary from 1972 to 1984. An upcoming webinar on 23 August will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Potter’s birth, as well as introduce him to a new ecu-menical generation, that they may be inspired by his legacy, his passion, his commitment, his spirituality and his love for the Bible.