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In a joint statement, the World Council of Churches, ACT Alliance, and Middle East Council of Churches appealed to address the most urgent needs in the wake of the catastrophic explosion that ripped through the heart of Beirut on 4 August.

Upon completion of a meeting in Cyprus on 21-22 January, the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches released a statement by members who came from Cyprus, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine.

WCC News met with the Very Reverend Archimandrite Dr Alexi Chehadeh, who leads the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and all the East in Damascus, Syria. He is an impressive role model and peacemaker in Syria.

Speaking at the Al-Azhar International Peace Conference on 27-28 April in Egypt, the Ecumenical Patriarch, His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, Pope Francis and WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit address topics of misinterpretation of religious text, the culture of peace in religion, and global peace and how it is affected by poverty, illness and exploitation.

The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

“I have an absolute confidence in your youthful and great enthusiasm and your heightened state of awareness that you will be ambassadors of peace, mercy and cooperation among all peoples.” This message, from Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, visibly uplifted and inspired young people attending a seminar, “Youth Engagement, Religion and Violence,” in Cairo this week.

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

“We are not speaking of people leaving one less-than-affluent suburb to go to a more affluent one because they seek a better quality of life; these are people leaving war-torn, poverty-stricken and conflict-filled near-anarchic states to find protection and safety for themselves and for their families.”

An international conference held at the invitation of the Foreign Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Nikos Kotzias, has gathered around 70 prominent religious, political and academic figures in Athens, Greece, this week.

WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit preached at the 7 May ecumenical service in Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral commemorating the centennial of the Armenian genocide.

APRODEV, an association of European development agencies related to the World Council of Churches, has urged the European Union to develop a long-term strategy to reconnect Gaza to the West Bank.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit met in Egypt on Sunday, 21 April, with Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, discussing post-revolution developments in Egypt, the situation of Christians in the Arab world and ways to strengthen Christian-Muslim relations.

Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples'€™ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.

During the past year thousands of people from North Africa have disappeared in the Sinai Desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel.

By Doris R., Ecumenical Accompanier in Yanoun, and the EAPPI summer team 2010

by Theodore Gill (*)

The election of a new general secretary for the organization and the selection of the venue for its next assembly were highlights of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee meeting that ended yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland.

The United Nations Liaison Office of the World Council of Churches (WCC) co-sponsored an international dialogue on September 25 between some 300 religious leaders and political figures - including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - aimed at exploring faith perspectives and the role of religion regarding global issues such as poverty, war and prejudice while deepening mutual understanding.