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“It’s okay not to be okay.” That’s the catchy way Denis Pattinasarany, from the Protestant church in the Mollucas, Indonesia, describes one of the most important things he learned at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute.

Corina Meuhlstedt, journaliste radio allemande bien connue, a expliqué comment retracer la 11^e Assemblée du Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE). Elle a déclaré: «Je retiens tout particulièrement l’atmosphère positive de l’Assemblée. J’ai eu le sentiment que des chrétiens et chrétiennes de confessions très différentes, dont certain-e-s vivent même dans des pays en conflit, ont pu surmonter les préjugés et l’hostilité, du moins pendant un certain temps, car le Christ s’est révélé dans l’Autre.»

Dr Corina Meuhlstedt, a well-known German radio journalist, described what it was like to tell the stories of the World Council of Churches (WCC) 11th Assembly. “The positive atmosphere was my biggest takeaway form the assembly,” she said. “I felt that Christians of very different denominations, some who even live in countries in conflict, were able to overcome prejudice and hostility—at least for a certain time—by seeing Christ in the other.”

When the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, churches had already been responding to humanitarian need in the country for eight years, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014.  The work being undertaken by churches in meeting the needs of those displaced by the war is not new, but the scale is staggering as 14 million people have been displaced in the six months since the invasion began.

With over 3,500 participants from all over the world, opportunities for “encounter” are rich and continuous at the 11^th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) taking place in Karlsruhe, Germany. Intentional gatherings – from small “home” groups to regional meetings also help to connect participants and bring different perspectives to the concerns and hopes being raised under the Assembly theme, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity”.