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As the 78th session of the UN General Assembly and the first-ever Climate Action Summit were held in New York City in September, ACT Alliance general secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria reflected on the importance of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the ecumenical movement in creating a more sustainable and equitable world.

In a video interview, Dr Andrej Jeftic, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Faith and Order Commission, reflects on the commission’s history—and why the commission is relevant today.

Rev. Matthew Ross, who served as WCC programme executive for Diakonia and Capacity Building from 2018-2023, reflects on how the document “Called to Transformation – Ecumenical Diakonia,” which he edited, is being received in ways that affirm the importance of diaconal service and mission.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and a WCC delegation led by the acting general secretary Fr Ioan Sauca met on 17 October in Moscow, discussing the current situation with the war in Russia and Ukraine and in light of the danger of nuclear war.

On 8 September, the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee elected Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria as its new moderator. Below, Bishop Bedford-Strohm reflects on the path ahead.

Global Christian Forum sustains imperative role in a post-pandemic world and reaches out to new groups of people. Global meeting to be held in Ghana in 2024.

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.

The WCC executive committee held a special meeting on 4 January and reached a decision to hold the upcoming WCC central committee meeting, scheduled for 9-15 February, online rather than in-person as previously planned. Below, WCC central committee moderator Dr Agnes Abuom shares some details behind the decision, and plans for moving forward.

Racism and discrimination are sins, says Dr Agnes Abuom, yet in the third decade of the 21st century, the world must change how it addresses them, including having all at the table to solve them. That way, they can help rescue humanity and save God's creation, but that includes engaging with perpetrators.

On 12 October, Dr Ofelia Ortega received a “Illustrious Daughter of the City” award from Matanzas, Cuba. Ortega, former World Council of Churches (WCC) president for Latin America and the Caribbean, also served as a Bossey Ecumenical Institute professor as well as the WCC staff person responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Programme on Theological Education. 

World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca offers reflections upon receiving the Bridge Builder Award for building bridges of understanding between people, nations, and communities at national and international levels. The award is presented by the Jury of the 14th August Committee Norway together with The Oslo Center.

Dr Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, was asked about the WCC executive committee meeting held on 17-23 May 2021. The WCC executive committee 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.

The transition to online programming and prayers during COVID-19 has challenged the WCC, and the rest of the world, Abuom found, and said is a “heavy burden” on all in the ecumenical family as the WCC prepares for its 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany next year.

While the peace process on the Korean Peninsula needs further progress built on trust, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected international humanitarian support and development cooperation efforts. World Council of Churches (WCC) communications invited Peter Prove, director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, to discuss the current ecumenical engagement for Korea and role of churches in building a sustainable peace.

The Right Reverend Dr Christopher Cocksworth is Bishop of Coventry, the senior leader of the Church of England in Coventry and Warwickshire in the United Kingdom. On 14 November 2020, Bishop Cocksworth, along with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York as well as more than 30 other bishops, issued a statement welcoming the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and calling on the UK Government to join it. The statement coincided with the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Coventry and destruction of its cathedral.

It is easy to feel despair of the unjust situation for the Palestinians, who are experiencing daily humiliation, annexation of land, growing settlements, land grabbing and poverty. This year Palestine has been illegally occupied for 53 years. But there are also many people in Palestine cultivating hope, faith and love for transforming the situation.

Illegal occupation of Palestinian lands has been ongoing for 53 years, imposing deep injustices on the daily life of local communities. In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, many Palestinians know what it can be like to live with settlements close by, not least in the villages around the city, where Palestinian landowners regularly face settler abuse. Yet there are many in the area who persist, in working hard on a daily basis to foster peace and justice. Below, Rev. Jamil Khadir reflects on what this means for him as a local pastor in Nablus.

Two weeks after Hurricane Eta struck, Nicaragua and Honduras are now bracing for another massive storm, Hurricane Iota. Eta killed at least 120 people in flash floods and mudslides. By 15 November, ahead of Iota’s landfall, some 63,500 people had been evacuated in northern Honduras, and 1,500 people in Nicaragua had been moved from low-lying areas of the country's northeast. Carlos Rauda, a regional officer with ACT Alliance, offers a glimpse of this unfolding situation, and the important role of churches.

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. Dr Karen Georgia Thompson is associate general minister for Wider Church Ministries and Operations, United Church of Christ.