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As Bishop Heike Springhart, bishop of the Landeskirche in Baden, looked out over the streets of Karlsruhe just before the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly began, she shared a sense of excitement. “The world is coming to Karlsruhe!” she said.

World Council of Churches moderator Dr Agnes Abuom participated in the 102nd Katholikentag in Stuttgart this week as the event was held under the theme “Sharing life.”

Following the decision of the Executive Committee during its meeting of November 2021, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is posting the opening of three staff leadership positions. The openings include programme director for Unity and Mission, programme director for Public Witness and Diakonia, and director of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee closed its meeting after convening from 12-17 November, leaving with a sense of hope, even while publicly expressing grave concern over many global injustices facing the world today.

During a special service concluding the Church of Sweden’s General Synod on 24 November, Archbishop Antje Jackelén made an official apology from the Church of Sweden to the Sámi for historical abuse.

As the Bridge Builder Awards were presented in a ceremony in Oslo on 22 November, interreligious peacemakers stood together to be recognized for their vital work in raising the values of respect, love, and tolerance for each other.

From peacebuilding to spiritual life, from children’s rights to planning for the 11th Assembly, the World Council for Churches (WCC) is a busy place, as students from the WCC Bossey Ecumenical Institute learned during a “Week of Focus” offered by WCC staff.

A team from the Church of Westphalia visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey from 27 September to 1 October, exploring a global view of ecumenism by learning about the WCC as a global ecumenical organisation.

The city of Geneva is planning to rename a street for Annie Jiagge (1918-1996), who was the first African woman to be a World Council of Churches (WCC) president (1975-83). She was also moderator of the WCC’s commission on the Programme to Combat Racism.

A delegation composed of the “collegial general secretariat” of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) visited the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 17 September to discuss with World Council of Churches (WCC) leadership how to strengthen ties between the two organizations by connecting programmatically.

The life and insights of the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer can shed light on the theme of the forthcoming assembly of the World Council of Churches, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity,” writes Keith Clements in the article that opens the latest issue of the WCC quarterly, The Ecumenical Review. 

At the annual Karlsruhe Foyer Church and Law reception on 15 June, German bishops gathered with judges of the Federal Constitutional Court and Federal Court of Justice, as well as representatives of the Federal Prosecutor's Office and of the legal profession in Germany, to hear some reflections on “Ecumenical engagement for human rights, and current challenges.”

As the Protestant Church of Switzerland held a synod and installed its next executive president Rev. Rita Famos and a new member of the council Claudia Haslebacher at the Cathedral of Berne on 13 June, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca offered an intercessory prayer as well as reflections on ecumenism.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) assembly planned for 2022 in Germany is an opportunity to confront past injustice and trauma and to work for reconciliation and unity, according to the moderator of the WCC central committee, Dr Agnes Abuom.

The Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau has commemorated its decision 50 years ago to fund the Programme to Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches (WCC), in the face of widespread public criticism, as a continuing obligation to oppose all forms of racism and inhumanity.