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A determined new member, driven by faith, courage, and curiosity

When Rev. Rita Famos became involved in the youth programmes of her local congregation in Bern, Switzerland, back in the early 1980s, a lifelong commitment to the Reformed Church and the ecumenical movement started to evolve.

04 July 2023

Group photo of the workshop participants

Seminar in Portugal, “Making the last FIRST,” widens perspectives on decolonization

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, in partnership with the Portuguese Council of Churches, hosted a seminar in Lisbon, Portugal, on 5-9 June entitled “Making the last FIRST,” relating this theme to decolonization.

16 June 2023

Jesus on the cross pictured close to a green wall.

WCC Easter message: Christ makes all things new

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay shares an Easter message of hope and renewal, reflecting on the moment when Jesus Christ, on the cross cries: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

31 March 2023

WCC-Kyiv-Mykhailivska-Square-IvarsKupcis-03082022 - 17.jpeg

WCC welcomes Nobel Peace Prize award to human rights advocates from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine

The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomed the news that the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski, Russian human rights organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties.

13 October 2022

Young people hold signs during the morning prayer service

WCC assembly statement calls for global ceasefire, renewed commitment to peace

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.

08 September 2022

Assembly delegates vote to approve a list of new Central Committee members

WCC 11th Assembly shares message: “A Call to Act Together”

All are called by Christ’s love to repentance, reconciliation, and justice in the face of war, inequality, and sins against creation, delegates at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Karlsruhe, Germany, have stated in a message issued on 8 September.

08 September 2022

The host churches of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches

An evening of welcome and a historic pilgrimage along the Rhine

In an evening filled with music and storytelling, performers led an audience of attendees from around the world on a journey through history. The 4 September Host Church Evening event at the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) 11^th Assembly centered on the theme, “No one shall be lost: building bridges – living reconciliation.”

06 September 2022

Outdoor worship service in Stockholm's Sergels Square

Uppsala 1968: The times, they were a’changing

By rights, it should have been Africa. The World Council of Churches’ (WCC) First Assembly had been held in Europe (Amsterdam), the second in North America (Evanston, USA), the third in Asia (New Delhi). Hopes were raised that Africa would be the next continent to host the council. But questions arose concerning acts of violence and military conflicts in Africa throughout the 1960s, from the Biafran region in Nigeria to Zanzibar and Eritrea, from Algeria to Mozambique and Rhodesia. And so the Fourth Assembly returned to the “safety” of Europe, to Uppsala in Sweden. In one of history’s ironies, Soviet tanks would roll into Prague one month after the assembly’s close.

06 September 2022

Opening prayers dedicate WCC Assembly at Karlsruhe in the spirit of Christ’s love

As the bells of Karlsruhe, Germany rang out across the city, thousands of Christians gathered on Wednesday, 31 August in the prayer tent at the heart of the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Representatives from each of the eight geographical regions in which the WCC is active brought gifts and concerns reflecting their own cultural and historical contexts. The international congregation prayed in thanksgiving to God, adding their expectation for the coming nine days of the Assembly, “We share the hope of meeting each other in the warm embrace of Christ’s love that moves us to reconciliation and unity.”

31 August 2022

A woman sings during a joint opening prayer for pre-assemblies

Choose the power of love: Pre-Assemblies deliver powerful calls

Karlsruhe, a city built over 300 hundred years ago without walls, open to friends and guests —at a time where other cities still hid behind their fortifications —welcomed people from all over the world to four pre-assemblies that are bringing forward powerful calls to the 11^thAssembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

31 August 2022

Women joining hands in the Walk of Peace

WCC pre-assemblies will convene to harvest honest reflections, meaningful messages

Four World Council of Churches (WCC) pre-assemblies are about to convene, drawing hundreds of people eager to, in a safe space, share their honest reflections and life challenges. The pre-assemblies include Indigenous Peoples, Ecumenical Youth Gathering, Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, and Just Community of Women and Men.

25 August 2022

Bridge, water and tower seen in a large cityscape.

WCC urges reconsideration of UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership

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.

02 June 2022

Natallia Vasilevich: Christians in Belarus do not fear to be messengers of justice and peace

There’s a reason why Orthodox theologian and human rights lawyer Natallia Vasilevich prefers to speak of the role of Christians rather than the role of churches in Belarusian society.

28 April 2022

Man dressed in Orthodox religious garb speaking at podium.

Fr Ioan Sauca: “God is on the side of those who are suffering”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has, since the first day of the war in Ukraine and even in the months before, been working and praying earnestly for peace in this conflict and throughout the world. From the beginning, the WCC has called for an immediate end to armed hostilities, to stop the war and has appealed also for an immediate end to indiscriminate attacks with an escalating impact on civilians in Ukraine. WCC News met online with the WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca to get the latest update on the work of the WCC.

14 April 2022

WCC Easter message: Christ’s resurrection “a source of healing, wholeness, and renewal”

Amid feelings of despair in our world, Christ’s resurrection is a source of hope and new life, writes World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca in an Easter message.

13 April 2022

Rev. Kleber Machado from Glasgow: no social justice without climate justice

Rev. Kleber Machado is a minister of the Church of Scotland at the St Andrew West Paris Church, in Glasgow, where COP26 is taking place. Below, he reflects on wider climate justice issues, as well as how he is bringing hope in his church’s own backyard.

12 November 2021

Symposium press club discussion on the laptop screens

Should churches push harder to resist untruths? Yes, say digital justice thinkers

If digital social justice begins with connectivity, perhaps it ends when that connectivity is usurped by oppressive regimes, extremists, fake news and hate speech. A “press club”-style conversation on 13 September found theologians, politicians, church communicators, activists and journalists from around the world weighing in on the short but exceedingly complex question, “Digital instruments – Blessing or Curse?”

14 September 2021