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On Palm Sunday, WCC walks in solidarity with Gaza Christians

On Palm Sunday, accompaniers from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel walked in the traditional procession, carrying messages of solidarity with Gaza Christians during an especially painful time. 

Advocacy Outline - WCC-EAPPI Easter Initiative 2024

As we witness the ongoing violence and injustice in the Holy Land and seek to stand in solidarity with its peoples struggling to find peace, the 2024 WCC-EAPPI Easter initiative lifts up the call to roll away the heavy stone of violence, war, and occupation, pain, and suffering, and to remind the world of what is needed to bring about peace, and to transform swords into ploughshares.

WCC Programmes

Rev. Sally Azar: Thursdays in Black “is universally bringing people together”

Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Sally Azar is a pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, and currently serves as a pastor in Jerusalem for both Arabic and English-speaking congregations. 

Words of steadfastness ring from the rubble

We won’t leave Gaza as long as there is a standing church.” 

We will not be the last Christians living in Gaza.” “

We lost everything, but we can’t lose our mission and our belonging to this place dear to our hearts.”

Christianity started here and will continue to be here.”  

These are the words people are uttering as Nader Abu Amsha, executive director of Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches (DSPR-MECC), tries to help them simply survive the next day. 

Easter Initiative 2024

01 March - 05 May 2024

The Easter Initiative is an annual activity of the WCC-EAPPI, setting out to connect the stories of Easter with current realities in Palestine and Israel, to spotlight the challenges of a life marked by violence, war and occupation alongside nurturing hope and highlighting groups and individuals striving for a just peace.

An Easter prayer – by Mgr William Shomali

Let swords be turned into ploughshares, fear to trust, despair to hope, oppression to freedom, starvation to prosperity, occupation to liberation, and peace and justice could be experienced by all.

Churches' challenges in health and healing work highlighted by global panel

The environment doesn't give to us; we provide to the environment, said Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas, coordinator of the Network of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Pastoral Health Care. Kofinas, the new moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Health and Healing, spoke on 5 March, during a discussion by three WCC commissions.

In USA, pilgrims trek for 200+ kilometers calling for ceasefire in Palestine

Sometimes the pilgrims were a couple dozen people walking on the shoulder of a nondescript rural highway in freezing temperatures. Other times their ranks swelled into the hundreds, as they rallied in US cities including Philadelphia, Baltimore, and, finally, Washington, D.C., where, on 21 February, they urged President Biden to call for an end to the war in Palestine.