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Fifty years ago, Dr Martin Luther King was still planning for his sermon at the opening of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Fourth Assembly in the serene town of Uppsala, Sweden. But just three months before the assembly’s opening service, he is assassinated. His dream of a new world is, however, alive at the assembly.

The WCC is hosting the annual meeting of an international group of people with responsibilities for ecumenical relations in several member churches of the WCC. The spring session of the gathering of the Ecumenical Officers Network is taking the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace” as the inspiration for learning, reflective study and discussion on current developments in the ecumenical movement.

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.

When Dr Ulysses Burley III visited Palestine and Israel six months ago, he came away with an even stronger determination to work for social justice, wherever and however he can.

Nearly one hundred representatives of the German member churches of the WCC met from 16 to 18 January at the Evangelical Academy of Loccum in order to share their experiences from the WCC 10th Assembly and to discuss how they would continue their way together on their pilgrimage of justice and peace.

The volatile and precarious situation of Christians in the Middle East was of deep concern to the members of the February 2011 meeting of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, and it will be highlighted in an upcoming conference on Christians in the Middle East to be held in Greece.

Participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) released a message on Tuesday expressing their unified experience of a week-long exploration of a just peace and to navigate a path forward as they return to their homes and churches across the world.

By Theodore Gill*

Local churches in Palestine/Israel are looking to the whole fellowship of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to play a stronger role in supporting local churches' struggles for a just peace there. This is the main finding of a delegation led by the Council's general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia that visited Palestine/Israel from 21 to 26 June. A new advocacy forum launched prior to the visit, and ecumenical accompaniment are high on the churches' list of actions in pursuit of this goal.