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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.

The 2022 World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel, to be held 15-22 September, will be an opportunity for the world to come together in prayer to end the occupation of Palestine.  

As Norwegian Church Aid continued a digital visit with its global partners, leaders from the organization met with the World Council of Churches (WCC) to discuss creative responses to the world’s increasing needs, and the vital role of church leaders in those responses.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee, convening from 17-20 May, set a tone of hope for the future while, at the same time, addressing multiple global crises with statements, pastoral messages, and calls for prayer.

During Easter in Jerusalem, the Via Dolorosa, the last path of Jesus on his way to crucifixion, has been deserted over Holy Week, but the famous celebration of Holy Fire celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus will not be virtual like many of the Easter church services for people.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) made a positive impact at the 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, held 24 June through 12 July.

The WCC has a long history of engagement with the United Nations human rights system, in witnessing and advocating for human dignity and justice on behalf of the worldwide ecumenical movement.

The WCC published an open letter to media in response to the new report released by the NGO Monitor criticizing the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel.

Every morning a cheerful and articulate man arrives at his office in East Jerusalem with at least a grain of hope. Dr Bernard Sabella has devoted his entire life to the rights of the Palestinian people. In his job as the executive director of Department of Services to Palestinian Refugees, he encounters issues concerning the Palestinian-Israeli relationship daily.

For Ramzi Zananiri, executive director of Jerusalem and the West bank at the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees, which is part of the Middle East Council of Churches, the current situation in the Holy Land is "heart-breaking", and he says the Palestinians are "hostages" under troublesome realities.

The WCC sent an open letter to the Gatestone Institute in response to the institute’s web articles criticizing the WCC’s “Seven Weeks for Water” campaign. The campaign focuses on critical water issues affecting the people of Palestine, particularly in the occupied territories.

Women are virtually invisible in news reporting on peace and security issues in nations experiencing conflict.

Reduction in and prevention of statelessness, and the protection of stateless people in the Middle East provided the focus of a workshop organized by the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon.

WCC support for churches’ struggles during the years of dictatorship in Argentina was praised by Aldo M. Etchegoyen, bishop emeritus of the Evangelical Methodist Church of Argentina.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

In The Ecumenical Review of March 2012, Christian experts survey the current position of churches throughout the Middle East. According to the editors, past year’s historic events in the Arab world “have highlighted the aspirations to citizens for their dignity and freedom”, yet these same developments “have also raised new and serious challenges for the many Christian communities there.”

By Theodore Gill*

By Theodore A. Gill (*)Â