A webinar on 8 March—International Women’s Day—will address the societal norms and structures that perpetuate femicide—and steps for churches to seek healing and justice.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Jerusalem Liaison Office Advisory Group convened on 20 February under the leadership of WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog formally received World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay on 20 February, to discuss the current situation in Israel and Palestine, and the war in Gaza.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay and delegation met with Sheikh Azzam Khatib, director of Islamic Waqf in Jerusalem on 18 February, reiterating the WCC’s commitment to maintaining Jerusalem as a city of all three Abrahamic religions.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay met with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank, on 19 February, urging an end to the “seemingly endless cycle of violence and suffering.”
Member churches, religious leaders and local Christian groups in Palestine and Israel—as well as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli president Isaac Herzog—will meet with World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay as he visits the area beginning 16 February.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), in partnership with CAPNI and UFUQ, is reaffirming its ongoing commitment to fostering sustainable peace through justice and inclusive citizenship in Iraq. This reaffirmation follows successful completion of a project to revise national educational curricula, promoting inclusive education and pedagogy.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), in consultation with heads of churches and representatives of Palestinian Christian organizations within the Jerusalem Liaison Office Advisory Group, is making an urgent call for an international investigation led by the United Nations into the numerous war crimes committed against civilians during the ongoing conflict.
Vandalism targeting churches, cemeteries, and Christian properties in addition to physical and verbal abuse against Christian clergy have increased in the past months in the Holy Land, amid ongoing political tensions within Israeli society.
During the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe”—when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948—World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with member churches in the Holy Land.
This week marks the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe,” when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948.
As many celebrate Valentine’s Day, the WCC invited reflections on the power of love. Below are four reflections, all from people somehow involved in or leading, in their local contexts, a Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence. They share the joys, the pain, and the ever-changing perspective on what love is—and what it can become.
A group of Ecumenical Accompaniers completed their service in Palestine and Israel, handing their ministry over to the next wave, and celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at the same time.
In 1919, three Armenian families—the Balian, Karakeshian, and Ohanessian families—were brought to Jerusalem by Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs, then military governor of Jerusalem, to renovate the 16th century tiles at the Dome of the Rock in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
On 24 November, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas formally received the acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca for a meeting to discuss just peace in Palestine and Israel.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca delivered a lecture during the first edition of the “Bahrain Dialogue Forum: East and West for Human Coexistence” held 3-4 November. Sauca’s lecture took place during a forum session entitled “Experiences of Promoting Global Coexistence and Human Fraternity.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly says it is hearing the pleas of the heads of churches in the Holy Land more than ever before in relation to mounting intimidation, violations, limiting access to places of worship, and attacks by radicals.
In a joint message on gender-based violence, sexual abuse, and faith communities, 26 World Council of Churches (WCC) Thursdays in Black ambassadors lament that the scourge of sexual and gender-based violence continues unabated—and call on faith communities to prevent such violence in their own spaces.
The Middle East Council of Churches held its 12th General Assembly on 16-20 May in Egypt, exploring the theme “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”
A message from the gathering touches upon many challenges facing the Middle East.